Tough
by Kore wa watashi
Summary: Tough. That's all he's ever been since the very start, aside from being good looking. With a body as tough as diamond, a mouth sharper than your hairy uncle's razor and a determination that will shake even the most persistent of villains in frustration, he is Uzumaki Naruto and he. is. tough. M for safety.
1. Introducing mister tough guy

**Just to start this in an official note.**

 **This is my first story in this site, I've heard a lot of things of this site from people, friends and other sources. So, I decided to give it a shot and bring my first story here into this site. A word of warning and attention though, I'm not a very good English speaker, English is not my first language but I do practice it enough to have a good conversation with people who has English as their first language.**

 **As some of you may have notice, I may or may not have just made a grammar error in the paragraph above—maybe I've made one in this one too—so you'll have to excuse that too. I'm using this site as a place to practice my writing skills too, IGCSE isn't easy bros. So, again, you'll be seeing things like grammar errors, a little amount of misspelling, fragments and other issues that you may find in stories which are made by non-English speaking authors.**

 **Oh, one more thing. I don't know if this is normal but… you don't have to actually leave a review for me. Surprised? Well, you should be. If it's just to say that you want more of this story or if you like this story then the number of follows and favorites that I'll receive is more than enough for that. So, I'm just going to say it here and now: leave a review only if you want to point out mistakes, errors, or if there are confusion in sentences and things like that. Critics are fine, but encouragements are more than enough through statistics.**

 **Okaaay… now that I've gotten that out of the way, I present to you,**

 **Tough.**

* * *

 _Six steps, that's all he needs._

Underneath the sheltered and unmaintained roof of an abandoned metal processing factory in Konoha's southern industrial district, the sound of people cheering and shouting as if they are watching two animals fight is the only thing that people could hear from inside and outside the area. People of many statuses are here; thugs, merchants, lower nobles who have a decent seating in the village's society and even serving Shinobis could be spotted to the trained eyes.

 _Three hits, that's all he needs._

"What's the matter rook? You had enough?" a man. More like giant, really. His build is heavy, his form is huge, his stature is tall… yeah, a giant. Despite his intimidating appearance, he is quite banged up. His face is littered with bruises, old and new. There is blood on his chest, fresh and dried. Scars are everywhere, from his neck to his chest and his hips. His dark complexion mixed with the state he is in, as well as his build, makes him look like a person that normal people should not mess with.

 _A pause, but for a moment._

Then the giant starts to block off lightning fast punches, kicks, jabs, chops! The giant's large stature allows strength and endurance to brush off the hits that his opponent is giving him as if they're just small taps. But there is one thing that he can't keep up, it's the speed. The giant of a man leans backward for a punch, before throwing said punch at his much smaller and shorter opponent.

 _Don't flinch, take it._

An unbelievable sight. The shorter fighter takes the hit head on, literally. The giant's fist hits the forehead of the opposing fighter, but it's effects are reversed. Instead of the shorter guy taking in the pain, it's him who's in pain. The giant reels back his bulging and swollen fist, still feeling the aftermath of the impact. It's as if he just punched a freaking wall made of diamonds, studded in obsidian and hardened in the hottest fire there is! Needless to say, it hurts like a bitch. But that level of hurt is nothing when compared to the one that he's about to receive.

 _Once endured, take the first step._

The shorter fighter jumps, delivering a well aimed strike for the giant's chin, hitting it with his knee as it is a flying knee attack that he has just delivered. It does not stop there, after the flying knee is a roundhouse for the side of the giant's head with his other leg, hitting the head and breaking every both cheekbones and jaw even if it is just one side of the face that is hit. In a fit of momentum, the shorter fighter spins and draws distance between him and the giant, his blue sapphire like eyes glinting dangerously underneath the bask of unholy lights coming from the moon above.

 _And then finally, forget the second to the fifth step, just do it._

He jumps. No, he soars. He pounces. He strikes.

He was fast, coming at the giant of a man as if he is lightning itself. The buffed giant, in the midst of his pain, is not given any chance to react to his speed. He is simply there in pain as his death takes on the form of a bare and uncovered foot flying at him with great speed. Now, there is a common understanding. The faster an object moves, the harder the impact. But what if…

It's both hard and fast at the same time?

Yeah, you guessed it.

 **SPLAAAAAAAAT!  
**  
The audience is forced to cover their eyes as the foot connects, creating a display of inhumane execution and a rather bloody spectacle at the same time. The man no longer has his head, it's minced grey matter now. Everyone is quiet, then cheers start to erupt from every corner of the illegal and makeshift stadium. People cheering his name, his moniker, his alias, his fake identity. He rubs his foot, the one which is covered in blood and grime, on the cleaner side of the ring, just for comfort.

Then a man dressed in a ruined yet decent clothing enters the metal barred ring through the only exit and entrance, no doubt that he is the one responsible for hosting the event. He has a microphone in his hand, approaching the clear and unquestioned winner of the fight for the finishing words.

"Laaaadies and gentlemen! We have our winner: Iroooooooooon!" he brings the victor's right hand to the air, raising it as a sign of clear victory. The people's cheering intensifies, bringing a smile to the winner's face.

The victor hints the mike from the announcer's hand, he takes it and brings it close to his mouth. His face, covered with nothing more than a pair of goggles, is showing a bright and clear grin; taking his moment to let the people quiet down before he does his speech. Once everyone is quiet, he starts his speech with a small laugh.

"Heh, never thought that I'd be seeing you fucks again." Everyone responds to his verbal sense of humor with short laughs. "I see that we've got quite the audience here… lessee… there's that guy that I beat up last week, that guy that I beat up the week before aaaaand that other guy who I beat up before the two guys I mentioned." He gave a playful wave at the audience, making them laugh some more. "It's all good to see people who I didn't beat up too, I'm talking to you Hirano-san. What would your family say if they saw you here, betting on half naked men beating the shit out of each other instead of pushing pens behind your desk?" everyone's laughter just gets louder.

He coughs into the mike, tapping it a few times. "But le'me be concise here." He says with an edge. "I'm quitting. I'm dropping the mike. I'm taking a bow." Everyone is silent, they are looking at him with an expression that could only be described as 'are you fucking kidding me'. "Now before ya'll start drawin' your dicks out and beat your meat out of frustration, there's a good reason for this. I'm quitting, cuz I won't be fighting anymore, cuz it's boring." He states his reason with a slight shrug. "So, I'm giving a time out, until the new and much fresher blood comes in and start making names for themselves, then maybe I'll come back; giving them a taste of my iron fist. So that's it folks, I'm done, I'm droppin' the mike. This is Iron, signing out."

* * *

"Uzumaki Naruto!"

The Third Hokage's scream has never been so loud. In fact, this is probably the loudest ever since he got mad at his own pupils; the three Legendary Sannins of Konoha. Inside the Hokage's tower is an office and inside that office is the Hokage himself and Konoha's resident troublemaker, Uzumaki Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto is by no means a simple boy, in fact, calling the boy a boy is probably a mistake. For once, despite being only thirteen years of age, he appears to be two or three years older. He is above the average height for boys his age, his face is way too rugged to be called minor and his attitude too.

Currently seated in one of the guest seats that the office has, Naruto is sitting on it, with his legs on the Hokage's desk, propped up nice and comfortable. Not to mention, he is also smoking cigar too. This boy, even from a glance, is the sole reason for more than two people's source of frustration and white hair. The boy is trouble and what's more troubling; he admits it.

However, despite his attitude, he is… quite the looker for a young person he is. Easily mistaken as an eighteen year old makes him quite a sight to behold in women's and probably a few of the males'—who have gone astray of the straight path—attention. It does not help when he is quite ignorant about it in the first place, it's easily told by the state of his clothing. Wearing only an orange sleeveless vest with a furry white collar and a pair of matching but darker shade of pants with nothing to cover his upper abdominals, is the main reason as to why people—not necessarily women, men are too be it out of curiosity or interest—are always looking at him.

The way he dresses coupled with his sun kissed golden mane of a hair, his angular jaw lines and face structure, well developed and lean built body, and the most important part… his flirty and easy to approach nature… yup, it's no wonder that the Hokage—Sarutobi Hiruzen himself—does not allow him to visit his secretary even on her free time.

Sadly, it does not work the other way around so… it's a win for the blonde.

Right now, the blonde is halfway through his cigar, quietly ignoring the twitching old man on the other side of the desk as he continues to blow rings of smoke out from his mouth. Eventually, his fag is finished, leaving only the filter dangling from his mouth. He lifts his legs off from the Hokage's desk, flicking the filter away from his mouth and into the small dustbin a few feet away from his position. He crosses his legs into a comfortable position, his back leaned to the cushion of the chair and his eyes covered by the goggles he's wearing.

"Oh, so you're here Jii-chan, I wonder why I didn't see you…"

One of the Hokage's veins popped. "I WAS HERE THE WHOLE ENTIRE TIME YOU LITTLE BRAT!" The entire room, it's safer to say that the entire Hokage tower just shake the moment Hiruzen opens his mouth in a form of a shout. The old wizened Kage pinches his temples immediately, releasing an extremely long sigh.

"Eeeeh… that's a pretty long sigh Jii-chan, you sure you're still packed for the job?"

"And whose fault is it if it isn't!?" shutting his mouth once again, the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato sighs, this time not as long as before. "Anyway…" he delivers a sharp look to the blonde delinquent, one that has no effect on the blonde. "I believe you are aware as to why you're here?"

Naruto does not answer. Instead, he picks his nose. This causes the oldest of the two to twitch in annoyance at the boy's attitude and disrespect towards the elderly, a part of him that Hiruzen just can't seem to repair. "Meh, I have a few ideas. But I think it's because of that little stunt I pulled yesterday. You know; the one where I swapped the entire ANBU headquarters' barracks' inventory with anything but useful tools?"

The Hokage's face fell. "You swapped every useful tool inside the ANBU headquarters?"

"Uh… yeah, isn't that why I'm here?"

"…Itachi, we have a problem here."

Almost phantasmically, a shift of atmosphere happens in the small room, a looming form of darkness begins to appear on the corner of the room, before fully materializing into the form of a tall young man dressed in an ANBU uniform. The newcomer's form is taller than the blonde and the Hokage himself. His hair is long, tied to a single ponytail and just like the blonde, he has the looks of a very attractive young man. However, unlike Naruto, who gives off the look of a rugged and punkish delinquent, he has the look of a quiet and stoic charmer. Actually it's best described like this: people finds Naruto attractive because of his charms and attitude, people finds Itachi attractive mostly due to his look and not his dead fish attitude.

"Hokage-sama." The black haired young man, known as Itachi, replies in recognition of the village's leader. He then lands a gaze at the younger blonde. "Naruto-kun."

Naruto flicks a two fingered salute at the older male, while the Kage gives Itachi a silent look that the Uchiha understands too well. "I have confirmed it Hokage-sama. Every single useful tools, such as weapons, uniforms, gears and even necessary facilities such as the water heater has been replaced with either brooms, chairs, tables, sticks with two branches, and a refrigerator."

The two older male looks at the blonde. "Why a refrigerator?"

"Cuz it's getting too hot over there, you know me, I don't like it when it's hot." He grins. "At least not when I'm the only who's getting hot myself."

The leader of the village sighs and slaps a palm to his face, muttering lowly to himself. "Ugh… what have this child become…?"

To Itachi, the blonde's antics are actually beneficial in some aspects. Some; he says… not all. Anyway, the pranks or trouble he makes would be a fine training for his men, believe it or not. There is actually an idea from his part as the commander of the ANBU division to secretly let the boy do whatever misfits it is he'd do to the division, as long as it will not go too far and that it will only increase the potential in the ANBU rosters. So, yeah, Itachi is the main reason as to why all of his men are using broomsticks instead of swords for their mission right now.

The boy has skills, even he is surprised the first time he met the enigma. Itachi has never seen someone so skilled, so smart and yet so… gullible at the same time. Naruto is easy to approach, yes, but sometimes that easy is just too easy. Uzumaki Naruto, in his past experience, has always been a prime target for bullying by people, it is due to a secret that only a major percentage of the adult population in Konoha knows.

He is the container for the Kyuubi no Yoko, which explains all the fights, trouble and situation he would find himself in during his younger days.

"So, Jii-chan… can I go now? I need to train…" the blonde says lazily while looking at the ceiling.

"No you cannot." Hiruzen replies strictly. "We still haven't discussed the main topic as to why you're here yet. Yes, indeed, it is a surprise for me to learn that you somehow managed to sneak into the ANBU headquarters without getting spotted, but I will deal with that another time." He breathes in. "Now, Naruto… why didn't you tell me that you've been getting involved in underground fight clubs this past few weeks?"

Itachi raises an eyebrow. This is new...

"…Meh, I was actually going to tell you, really… but the thought suddenly slipped my mind." The blonde answers as calmly as he could, while still looking at the ceiling.

Hiruzen analyzes the boy for a moment, reading him from his place. He shows no sign of nervousness, or doubt in what he is saying. He's not lying… and that's what worries him. "Do you realize that those are illegal, Naruto? People who are involved, be spectators or fighters, are guilty for the same charge, if not more than the other."

The blonde stops looking at the ceiling, he instead finds his place looking at the Hokage straight in the eyes. Hiruzen stares back at those sharp sapphire orbs, mocking him of his failure. "I know, but I have a reason for that really." Slipping a hand into his vest's pocket, he then pulls out a folded paper-like item. He flicks the paper towards the Hokage, as expected, Hokages have good reflexes. "I want you to read that. Read that and tell me that what I've done is wrong."

Hiruzen gives the boy one last look, before eventually unfolding the paper. He starts reading, and the more he reads, the more noticeable his frown is. He then gives the paper to Itachi, who accepts it without second thoughts. The ANBU commander reads it too, though his stoic expression prevents even the slightest of clue as to what is written on the paper. Once the two adults have finished compressing whatever knowledge is forced into them by that paper, Naruto laughs.

"Filthy ain't it? People man…" he says with a click of his tongue. "they can do just about any messed up shit that you could think of. Human trafficking, drug dealing, that's not the problem. The reason as to why I involved myself in the underground is obvious, I want to root out all of the names you've seen on that paper. I know that I'm technically not a ninja yet, but those names are dangerous business… If you notice Jii-chan, at least three or four of the names written there have a political seating with authority inside and outside of Konoha, yeah?"

No answer from the Kage.

"I've been in the underground for three weeks, and I've learned a lot of things." Naruto begins. "Things like the secret illegal fights that I participated in yesterday, or even more extreme things like planned kidnappings of your grandson to be sold to potential buyers… are only some of the dirt that I discovered. And you wouldn't allow it, right?" no answer again. "The thing is, the name of the people written there are people who Konoha needs to be paying more attention with. I've done my part, now, as Hokage, you need to do your part Jii-chan."

"How do you know of all of this?" Hiruzen begins, his tone serious and light. "Our intelligence division does not know of any of this. The names you've written here are names of important individuals who have both my trust and acknowledgement, proving me this is nothing but a sign of accusation, and that could get you in trouble, boy."

Naruto is not dumb enough to notice the way the Hokage called him. He scratches the back of his neck, before eventually speaking. "Let's just say that I have a personal… eh… how should I say this…" he actually looks really confused, almost conflicted. "It's not a vendetta, it's not a grudge and it's most certainly not revenge… oh, I know, I know… let's just say that I have a personal _relation_ with these people and that relation of ours is not a beneficial one, so when I learned that I've some dirt on them, I decided to rat them out to the Hokage; you." He spreads his arms apart, a grin appearing on his face. "It's not some sort of law intervention, right? You ninja folks didn't even know that you have wolves dressed in the same wool as yours. I just did my job as a good citizen of Konoha and report the smell to the authorities, right?"

Hiruzen's expression relaxed. _'This boy… I swear, sometimes he is too smart for his own good…'_ the aged Hokage shakes his head. "If I may ask clearly… what sort of unbeneficial relationship do you have with these people, Naruto?"

"Hmm… should I tell you… or should I don't…?" Hiruzen glares at him, but only to receive a smirk in return. "Okay, okay fine… see, it was actually just coincidence when I learned that one of them is involved in… 'criminal activities' such as the one I mentioned. I was actually just walking back home through the back alley when I heard a few of these thugs speaking to themselves. Oh you don't have to worry about them, I took care of them a few weeks back. So where was I… oh yeah, once I learned about what is it they're talking about, I decided to learn more by… well, beating the shit out of them for information, because I'm not as resourceful before as I am now. Long story short, I started to involve myself in underground fight clubs in order to get a few important figures' attention and maybe get some info on them in return. Then, as I gain the 'trust' of the more good smellin' but uglier lookin' people down there, I learn names. Most are written on the paper I just gave you and even more I know through memory." He chuckles out in amusement. "Konoha is really vocal and explicit when it comes to treating their pariah, after all."

Hiruzen flinched. Itachi merely watches as a mere, yet skillful, thirteen year old boy who is not even an academy student, make the Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato flinch.

"Okay, I'll admit." Naruto sighs. "Maybe I do have something personal with them. But it's not entirely for that. I don't like people who does things in my village that could harm me and the people around me. If I know that such people exist, I'll hunt them down. And now that I have all of them on paper, I quit the fights and here I am in your office, explaining why you need to sign me up for ANBU immediately."

.

.

.

"…Uh for your information, that last part was a joke, okay?"

A look of disappointment crosses Itachi's eyes.

* * *

"What do you think, Itachi?"

He dismissed the boy just a few minutes ago, five or six, give or take. Now the office is only occupied by two of the most powerful figure in Konoha. There is the Hokage himself and his trusty and loyal ANBU commander, easily the second in command if he were to go through formalities.

Itachi considers himself a sharp person, he is the scalpel to make the cut in order for the tumor to be removed.

"The boy's right, our ANBU have been decreasing in terms of performance as of late and—"

"No, no." the Hokage swiftly cuts in, before Itachi could even go into _that_ topic. "Not that, but this." He lifts the paper for Itachi to see. "What should I do about this? What should I do about him? How am I even sane right now…?"

Itachi takes a moment to eye the paper once more. "It's the real deal no doubt, it's not forged and from analyzing it's done by someone who's used to give this sort of information about people for a very long time… if Naruto-kun were to, let's say, write this down on his own, then he'd need at least ten years of experience in advanced spy and intelligence gathering training."

Hiruzen perks up. "Are you saying that one of our own have something to do with this?"

"Two of our own, Hokage-sama." The genius corrects, lifting two fingers. "Naruto-kun is involved, it's clear. But who is the other one? From my perspective, this other person, the informant, the one who has given Naruto-kun this piece of information is not guilty… that is of course, unless you think otherwise?" Itachi gives his leader a look, a stoic look.

But Hiruzen has been working with the young boy for quite some time. He knows that look. "I'm getting too old for this shit…" the aged man says under his breath. "Anyway, I want you to search into this matter deeper. Ask the Military-Police from your clan if you can Itachi, they might want to have a part in this…"

If Itachi is any lesser man, and if he is an expressive one, he'd snort at the mention of 'Military-Police'. "Yes Hokage-sama." He turns to leave, but before he could, he stops. "Hokage-sama, a word of advice."

"What is it?"

"Make Uzumaki Naruto a gennin."

Then, the Uchiha prodigy leaves the scene, leaving behind a stunned and speechless sixty year old Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot."

The next morning, everyone wondered why there is a red mark on the old man's face.

* * *

Waking up to the sound of his alarm going off, Uzumaki Naruto jumps out of bed and on to his two feet to ready himself for his morning training. Just a way to discipline himself for his future Shinobi career, getting a little exercise early in the morning is always a nice way to start the day, it's healthy too. Naruto, still dressed in nothing but his boxers, walks to his bathroom where he proceeds to give himself a light hygiene; brushing his teeth, flossing, face wash and things like that. He is not a neat freak, but it'll make him stay fresh throughout the day if he at least gets to wash his face and brush his teeth.

There's no need for breakfast really, since he mostly eat during the evening. A weird and probably unhealthy eating habit, yes, but he just can't get rid of it. More importantly than breakfast, his clothing. Since today is pretty chilly, maybe he should be wearing more than just a vest and a pair of trousers on. So after he's done in the bathroom, he goes back to his bedroom to put on his clothes, putting on a red long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of matching pants. His wallet too, just in case if he gets hungry during his exercise. Oh and one important thing, his goggles.

Yeah, now he's ready.

Making sure that his door locked and that all is set for the get go, he exits the rundown apartment complex with a small jog. This is his usual dailies: fifteen kilometer jog anywhere in the village, pushups and situps to get that aerobics going on, stretching for that muscle work and finally, a spar. Normally, this would take about more than four hours to complete, which is why he always wakes up early in the morning, about four or three depending on his mood. Today will be different, probably, something tells him that his sparring partner will be late.

After he is done with the first few initial exercises, it is time to greet his partner.

All alone standing in the middle of an unused shinobi training ground, one that is free to be used by the public—usually as a recreational site for the non-shinobi schools—is Uzumaki Naruto, sweaty and light due to the intense exercise he's been through earlier today. All that's left for him to do is to wait for his partner slash rival slash… uh… frienemy. The person who he is going to meet soon is not the most approachable of person… that person is… well, for status's sake, a jerk.

"You're early, Uzumaki."

Well, at least she's not a late jerk.

"I guess I am, Hyuuga."

Blue eyes meet pale eyes. The owner of the pale eyes blinks first, and immediately sets herself into a standard Hyuuga style stance. Naruto whistles, looking quite amused. "My, you're surprisingly eager today Hyuuga-chan, can't wait to get more spanking from me now could you?"

Even if it's just a little bit, a little weeny bit, a small red tint crosses the Hyuuga's face, before disappearing completely. The expression she is holding is still stoic, and despite his teasing she is calm and ready. This just makes the grin on the blonde's face grow wider than before. "Come on little miss Hyuuga, whenever you're ready." She sees the blonde smiling, and it brings a twitch to her eye seeing that smug looking expression of his. She hates to admit it but he has all reasons to be smug, because he has won all of their spars ever since the very first time. And it does not help if he was never even hurt during all of it.

Hanabi starts with the first strike. It's not like getting the first chance to strike will give her an advantage on this spar. She is fast for her age, her small and lithe form only increases that further. However, her opponent is skilled too. She has to admit, if he does more than letting her hit him as a training dummy while acting all smug about it, she will lose the moment he lifts his hand. But that does not mean that she will allow him. As a Hyuuga, someone that comes from the main branch nonetheless, she has her pride. And even though that pride of her has been shoved to the dirt for so many times in their previous spars, she will not just give up and let easy.

After sparring with him for quite some time, she knows his movements. Since she is using a main Hyuuga branch style, he will definitely dodge the first blow by either ducking or leaning to the back. She predicts this and is right. Naruto swiftly dodges the first strike delivered from her by leaning to the back, Hanabi follows up with a second strike in the form of another palm. Again, just like every single time they spar, he blocks it with his bare palms. What's irking her is not the fact that he is capable of taking a bare hit from a Hyuuga's palm; well, maybe that too, but it's the fact he is also fast and sharp enough to predict her attacks.

For simpler terms, Uzumaki Naruto is currently copying the Hyuuga's fighting style and using it against her.

As the young girl's irritation grow, the blonde's thirst for action too. Naruto ditches the copycat moves and begins to take things his own way, brash and unpredictable. The moment Hanabi backs away, she probably noticed that he is about to change styles, he prepares himself by jumping into the air with a flying roundhouse kick. Of course, his attack missed, and Hanabi is sharp enough to use this as a chance for a counter attack. The young Hyuuga comes in pitter patters, her palms up for the strike. Now he could be a real gentleman and let the little lady hit him as much as he likes, or he could fight back and irk her further. Since he is in a good mood right now, he'll do the former. He stands still, his hands raised defensively.

Hanabi is merciless when she barrages at the blonde with her flurry of palms, she even throws in a few taps with her fingers for added damage. But it's futile! He's so damn hard! Even hitting him is painful for her, and she isn't even throwing punches at him. Hanabi kicks the man, but his hands easily dismiss it without even showing the slightest bit of pain. She tries for another kick, but his hand grabs her by the ankle, yanking her and throwing her to the other side of the field behind him. As expected from the Hyuuga child prodigy, Hanabi easily lands on her two feet, skidding a few feet from her landing point.

She stands, albeit tired and huffing in exhaustion. What she has in speed and maneuverability, she lacks in stamina. Her precision is off the charts too, but it's complete useless when her opponent is someone who can tank even a Hyuuga's strike as if they're merely love taps.

"Hmm… you're faster today, Hyuuga-chan." The blonde says from his spot, barely sweating. "Faster doesn't necessarily mean better though, your strikes are something but it's useless when you can't even make me feel them. They might work on someone else, but not me." He then makes a thoughtful expression. "Which brings me to the question again… why am I helping you spar?"

Hanabi, after taking a moment to ease her breathing, answers him without batting an eyelash. "In order for me to improve. That's all." She says a little bit too coldly for someone her age.

Naruto frowns slightly, but he shows an uncaring expression a little while later. "Meh, if that's your reason…" he cracks his knuckles, does the same to his necks, joints and even legs. He gives the girl his determined look, only for her to give him hers in return. "Then let's see how far you've improved, shall we?"

This time, instead of Hanabi, it is he who moves in for the strike. Hanabi, while ready and prepared, is not capable of taking his swift and agile punches by deflecting or misdirecting them; leaving her the only option of moving her body to dodge his strikes. The girl is shorter, maybe that is her only advantage at dodging him. The Hyuuga's fighting style mostly involves misdirecting an opponent's strikes, so having to dodge fast attacks is quite the challenge for her. Naruto knows that he is not supposed to go all serious on the girl, because for obvious reasons; that and he doesn't like fighting with girls, especially with a little girl like Hanabi.

However, he has to say, Hanabi is a very skilled kid. He does not know what sort of training that those Hyuuga old men have drilled into Hanabi's young mind, but he knows that it worked well, at the expense of her attitude of course. If he is not mistaken… she is starting the academy this year, just after the graduating batch that will become genins when they have passed their exams and tests. But what does he know? He's not even in the academy. Sparring with her counts as a benefit in itself; he'd get to learn more about the Hyuuga clan's fighting style and he gets to have a sparring partner. But he can't help but feel sorry for the girl in a way; she's trying so damn hard to beat him but she doesn't know that he's tougher than diamonds… literally.

His body is not normal. Nope. First of all, it's damn tough; physically. People could stab him multiple times with a sword and have said sword returned in an unrepairable condition. He does not know how or why this kind of… unique and unordinary condition is present to and for him. Maybe it's some sort of mutation? He for once thought that the old man might've done some shady secret human experiment on him when he's a kid, but the old man was just as surprised as him when he first showed him his unique condition. He found out about his condition ever since he was young, and he told the old man since then; no one else.

Aside from giving him a super durable and strong skin or body structure, it also increases his… well, hitting power. Because science: if you use hard things to hit softer things, the latter would break. Duh. This also means that he is a walking tank, literally. He tested his unnatural conditions a few times by himself; even to a point where it would make him look like a suicidal runt on shrooms. Non-lethal Jutsus too, especially; whether it be huge Katon fireballs, torrents of Suiton waves, large Doton avalanches, sharp and strong Futon currents or even super fast and mean Raiton sparks; everything, he could tank!

Of course… this is not limited to there. Yeah. There is a way for him to make his body tougher, stronger, more durable and harder than what it already is. The answer is simple. Yes, chakra. He learns that ninjas actually use chakra to reinforce parts of their bodies in order to make them tougher and stronger. Hanabi is doing the same thing basically, but he is too busy inner monologing right now so he will ignore whatever it is she is doing to him. So, anyway, by using chakra he could make his body tougher than ever. He tried free falling from the Hokage Mountain once; people could still see the ten meter deep hole he made as an aftermath.

So, yeah, a mighty convenient thing he got going on.

But!

Yes people, there is a huge but.

No, not that _butt_. But _but_.

It does not come without a side effect. Noppidy nope. Since his body is already so… tough naturally, he could already easily break a few knives or even swords without even channeling chakra and distributing them throughout the entire parts of his body. So, if he were to channel chakra into his body… the side effects will start to show… physically.

Hanabi yells in outrage, frustration, annoyance and other sorts of emotion that no one knows that a Hyuuga could have. She tried everything; even spitting at the damned man! Nothing budged, not even the Jyuuken that she used! What's worse, he's still in the middle of day dreaming! What's even worse, her hands, feet, head and even forehead are in pain due to her hitting him! See?! Her. Hitting him. She's hurt. It doesn't make sense.

As Hanabi is slowly getting mad at herself, and the blonde mostly, at her incapability of even hurting the blonde in a miniscule scale; she notices something odd about the blonde.

"…Eh?" she watches as the blonde's tanned skin morphs into that of a brittle grey color, matching that of concrete. It then starts to get even creepier and weirder when dust begins to cascade from his hair like dandruff, his hair itself has hardened; they're all similar to spiked concrete. The young girl, confused and creeped out at the sudden display, takes a shaky step back while pointing a shaky finger at the stone turned man.

He blinks at her.

"Y – Y – Y – Y – You! What the hell are you?!" Hyuuga Hanabi shrieks in surprise and alarm.

Naruto blinks a few more times, moving his arms and realizing that they have gotten quite heavy and noisy when made moving. He then frowns, spitting out what seems to be a mixture of fine grounded concrete and water to the ground. "Damn…" even his voice has gone raspy from the drastic change his body has just gone through. "So already huh?"

Hanabi is still gaping like a fish. Maybe not a fish, since fishes actually close their mouths and opens them again. She is gaping like those dolls that they sell in the store with the pink lights. "What do you mean 'huh'?! You're a freak!" damn, there is no stopping the girl when she's surprised, huh?

Naruto falls to the ground on his back, intentionally of course. This causes more dust to appear in the air, and when he hits the ground, he hits it just like any other material made of concrete would. With a loud thump. "Ow, ow… dammit, I broke my neck…"

Hanabi jumps three feet to the air when his body suddenly lifts itself up without its head. The head is still on the ground, but the body is sitting down. She could only watch in mute surprise, confusion, fear and amazement as the body grabs the head and cradles it near the chest. Mixed with the staring and still live head staring at her, this is definitely creepy.

 _Pssssssssssssssh…_

"Ah…" Naruto gapes.

"…Ah…" Hanabi's head trails down.

.

.

.

Would her father believe if she tells him that a living statue man scared her to a point where she'd piss herself?

* * *

"So let me get this straight." Naruto coughs to his fist before looking at the person in front of him with the most serious pair of eyes that he could muster. "You." He points to the Hokage. "Want me to be a genin of Konohagakure no Sato, but you," he points to Itachi. "want me to take the ANBU qualification test in order to be accepted as a genin?"

.

.

.

"Yes, basically." Both ANBU commander and Hokage answer as one.

"…"

"Wait! Don't throw that chair yet!" the old and wizened Hokage stops the young blonde ruffian before he could lob the chair to his face. Itachi is already hiding behind the desk, when it is reserved for him in the first place. "J – Just listen, okay?" he attempts to calm the rageful blonde down by reasoning with him. "At least listen first…"

Naruto slowly puts down the chair that he's holding above his head, he does so without breaking eye contact with the old man. Once the chair is connected to the floor once more, he sits on it again, this time willing to listen to whatever reason that the Hokage and the ANBU commander has for him.

Hiruzen coughs, clearing his throat to begin his reasoning with the blonde. Itachi is no longer under the desk, acting as if he did not just hide under the Hokage's desk with the threat of a flying chair aimed at him. "Ahem. Naruto-kun, we've seen… well, listen would be the more appropriate term here since we've seen nothing of your skill, however, your involvement in capturing not one, but ten people who are Konoha's biggest but the most secret of threats has gained my and the ANBU black ops' attention. We, Itachi and I, are willing to give you two choices. One, we will make you a genin of Konohagakure no Sato without having to go through the academy as a standard. However, you are required to take the ANBU qualification test in order to become a genin." He sees Naruto lifting himself up from his chair. "OR! Or two, you can join ANBU and work as a part of the intelligence division for the rest of your career."

Itachi and the Hokage holds their respective breaths in order to wait for the blonde's reply. Their body tensed when they see his lips part.

"…I'll take the first—"

The Hokage and ANBU commander suddenly drops to the floor, their arms covering their heads.

Naruto's left eye twitch dangerously. "I said, I'll take the first choice."

Aaaand they're back to their respective places.

It's such a weird thing in the office.

"Ahem."

' _Take a fucking cough medicine you fucking old goat.'_

"Then it is settled. Today is when you will begin your examination, you must arrive at training ground thirty six at three o'clock sharp. I will be there along with a few audiences to evaluate your performance. Of course… Itachi here will be there too." Hiruzen says with a small confirming nod.

Naruto shrugs his shoulders. "What about the test, is there anything I should know about it?"

The Hokage gives the blonde a secretive smile. "Now where's the fun in that, Naruto-kun? You will have to see for yourself later. Just don't be late, I don't want to have another tardy Shinobi on my roster. You are dismissed, Naruto-kun." The blonde lifts himself from the chair and quietly makes his way to the door, leaving the Hokage and Itachi alone inside the office.

Both men release a breath of relief. Then, their eyes met.

"…So you know too."

"It is in my duty to know, after all, Hokage-sama."

.

.

.

"I can't believe that Hiashi came running at me early in the morning crying about how his youngest daughter had just got scared to a point where she'd dishonor both her family and herself by wetting her pants."

"I can't believe that the youngest Hyuuga prodigy actually lost in a fight. And she is supposed to be meaner than me."

Both men agree on one thing; that the test that Uzumaki Naruto will receive, is in fact not a test for him to join the Shinobi ranks, but for them to know what skill he possess to be able to make a Hyuuga cry and wet her pants regardless of her age.

* * *

 **So I guess that is it for the first chapter. Again, you do not have to review unless if it's to point out mistakes or confusion. But please be merciful at this pitiful me, I am not a masochist… so anyway, the genre might be confusing… but since when has that ever been a problem for interested readers out there?**

 **Oh and uh… I hope that you guys won't mind references to real life, other series or even famous people.**

 **This is me, signing out.**


	2. Before the test is another test

"Maaaaan… three o'clock? That's like… four more hours."

Uzumaki Naruto is walking through the busy morning streets of Konohagakure no Sato. With his hands folded behind his head, he has the look of someone who is not enjoying time; which brings him to show a rather distinct frown on his face. While his dashing good looks are something to behold, his attitude might not. And he can't blame people for that.

He admits, he has quite an attitude that definitely needs an adjustment in some vital points; but it's not like his attitude might get him killed anyway. Or… it will, since he has just jinxed himself on the spot, damn it.

He raises a hand just above and away from his face, blocking the sun out from his view. "Today is sunny as fuck, no wonder it's so hot." Even if he is wearing light at the moment, he is still releasing sweat as if he'd just run a few laps around the ninja academy. He takes a moment to comb his hair backwards with his hand, using the upper part of his arm to dry his face, making for a completely unnecessary movement since his arms are also sweaty.

Looking around, he is now in the shopping district of Konoha; the place where most of the people from all the corners of the village are most active in, aside from the red light district at night. This district has everything. Foodstuffs, clothing shops, merchants, pawn shops, electronics and even a few libraries amongst them too. He used to question himself as to why a library would find a place for itself in a shopping district of a village, but now that he knows the answer to the question, he isn't surprised.

Apparently, the libraries here, charged their customers for borrowing their books. Kind of like a normal library but with more profit. He wonders why they didn't just open a video rental store; that might work better. But leaving behind his honest opinions, he is making one of those libraries as his destination at the moment. Sure, he knows. For someone who looks like him, a library would be the last place on earth that he'd visit. But guess what? No. He tries to keep himself feed with important things like books; learning a few of this and a few of that, just enough to give him a grasp of what's going on with the world. And besides, the library's an interesting place. At least the one he'll be visiting…

On the way there, he encounters a few people dressed in black ceremonial uniform walking in a line going past him. People seems to be giving them way as a horse carriage follows the first line of people and followed by some more people in the same uniform. Usually, he'd associate the color black with death. But there's no way that someone in Konoha would waste money, no matter of what ranking status they are, to hire a horse carriage to deliver a body to the morgue or the wooden fridge.

"I wonder what's that all about." The blonde eyes the unusual spectacle with wonder in his eyes, but dismisses it as one of those things that he doesn't see much in life. "Maybe some important looking nobles going to important looking places, turns out, they aren't."

Now that the distraction is out of the way, he begins walking to his destination, the library. But not just any library; the library that he's about to visit is special because it does not rent out books for money; it rents out books for _favors_. Yes, freaking favors, believe it or not. Why is it like that? It's because the owner of the place is one hell of a jerk; instead of asking you for your money, he asks you to be his little bitch slave or whatever. Which is why no one really visited that place, at least not unless they really need to borrow the books that are only available there. But the owner is pretty smart. Since people are too lazy to walk all the way from here to the public library all the way on the other side of the map, they will make the few libraries here as their target to borrow books simply because they are nearby. That and well, the things that could be borrowed in this particular store are not available anywhere else. Yes, he shits you not.

What kind of library would have a book about reverse parenting!? That's brilliant!

So yeah, basically, the place is just for shits and giggles.

After a good amount of walk from the Hokage tower to here, Naruto takes a brief moment to let his eyes take in the sight of the miserable and shady looking place. Okay, when he said that this place doesn't get business that much, maybe this is the reason for that. Smiling, he enters through the front door.

"Welcome to the book and borrow; if you want to borrow a book and get yourself in a situation where you'll never be ever to forget, then let me know." Came a lazy sounding voice from the front desk.

Naruto approaches the lazy sounding clerk, putting a hand on the counter while he shadows in on the guy who is so focused on his book. The man, noticing that something is blocking his reading light, takes his moment to pull away from the book. "What the—oh, it's just you blondie." The man recognizes the blonde with a lazier tone. Lazier than before. His eyes roll sideways and his hands making quick work of discarding his book to the drawer underneath the counter.

"Good morning Tai-san." Naruto gives the man a friendly smile as well as a small wave.

But of course, since the man he knows as Tai is a very lazy person, he does nothing to return his greeting. "So whaddaya want blondie? Want to owe me a favor and let your be immersed in one of my finest collection of books," he begins flatly. "or would you like to have the honor of taking my little Saren out for breakfast for me." And he ends it in an even flatter note.

"The second actually, Tai-san." The blonde replies with a small chuckle, crossing his arms while he does so. "I'm not looking to borrow some books nor am I looking forward to owe you some favor that might involving me getting drunk and ending up with a monkey, a hose and a pregnant prostitute the next day." He waves off politely. "I need Saren, actually. For something important."

The man nods and proceeds to take out the book that he was reading earlier from the drawer, all the while calling for his daughter's name. "Saren! The blondie is here to pick you up for food! Don't be worried about staying out late, you can sleep in his house for the night or something."

The sound of small pitter patters is heard coming from the back, and that sound slowly gets louder and louder with every passing second. The door to the back is kicked open, revealing a girl who is shorter than Naruto and her brown hair tied into a single up do. Without even thinking, the girl launches herself at the blonde, who catches her in an embrace. The adult in the room does not react at the sight of his daughter hugging a boy in front of him, he instead prefers his book more.

"Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" the girl says in a single breath. She then lifts her face from the blonde's bare chest, giving him an honest to God thankful look. "Do you know how starving I am right now?" she asks.

Naruto, stifling a laugh, shakes his head. "No?"

"Then let's eat first and talk while we're eating!" she proceeds to drag him out from the shop with a strength that he never know that a civilian girl could have.

.

.

.

Not much to be said here.

* * *

"So, you want to know about a few things, eh?"

Currently in a café where most of its customers are girls who force their boyfriends to take them to eat here, Saren and Naruto is discussing about the so called 'important thing' that Naruto told her earlier. "Yup." The blonde replies, while taking a sip from his coffee. He eyes Saren and she hasn't changed much ever since the last time he'd seen her, which was like two years ago when he's younger. She grows a few inches yeah, but that's just about it. She is still the same short tempered, sweet toothed and cute info broker he knew.

Saren is not that much younger than him actually. He's thirteen she is twelve, so they are only a year apart. But unlike him who has the look of someone who appears to be fifteen up to eighteen year old, she looks like any other twelve year old out there. Her height is way inferior to his; she only reaches up to his shoulders. And it seems that she is still putting on that 'goth loli' style, minus the hair. Not all people in Konoha wears a black frilly dress, monochrome stockings, a pair of black dress shoes and carries around a parasol after all; so finding her in a crowd is easy, you just have to look down.

"Not only a few things though… it's a few ninja related things."

Saren frowns a little bit, sticking her spoon into her ice cream parfait that she is just in the middle of enjoying of. "Ninjas? Shinobis? I thought that you want nothing to do with them?" she points a finger at the blonde. "Two years ago you never asked me about shinobi related things, I want to know why are you asking me now. Come on, spill it!"

The blonde sighs as he combs his hair to the back with the gaps of his fingers. "Okay, calm down. No need to make a scene here." He says. "So, the Hokage found out what I've been doing these past few weeks. I know that we haven't really met in the past two years but I've been sending you mails, right? You know what I'm looking for. You know what I'm aiming for here Saren."

The girl nods stiffly. This is where their conversation will sink into the serious part, when Naruto gets all cold toned and quiet. The blonde resumes his speech. "I have to make a believable lie, well they aren't technically lies since they are true, but I can't have the Hokage getting on my case. But since I've given him a few things, the chances of him bumping into me and my escapades are pretty high in the near future. So, in order to both avoid and prevent that, I need information regarding the Torture and Intelligence division of Konoha, some of the notable people in the ANBU rosters, and a few things about previous ANBU commanders. The current one is Itachi, you know, the soon to be heir of the Uchiha clan?"

Saren scoffs, ruining her pretty face. "Of course I know, I won't be an information broker if I didn't know that." She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "So, that's all you wanted to know or is there something else?"

Unsurprisingly, he nods. "Yeah. I want to know the names of some of the most notable Jonins in town and their skills, I know a few but not that much."

"…Getting info about the T&I division and the Jonins are not going to be a problem… it's the ANBU ones that's hard. I'll need to use favors for that, and you know what will happen if I use those favors, right?"

Of course he knows. The truth behind the book rental store? It's actually a middle zone for odd favors or in layman's term, illegal activities. Not all illegal activities, but only those that requires certain people to owe or accept favors. In short, that book store is actually a shady place. But in all seriousness, if Saren keeps on using her favors, less and less people will want her help, making her chance of getting favors from said people to be lesser and lesser by each use.

"I know." Naruto nods. "But this is really important, I can't have the Hokage interfere with my job and what's more, he's going to make me genin." Noticing the look of surprise on her face, Naruto chuckles. "Yeah, he decided to make me genin because of the bullshit I spewed at him. I told him I was hunting down people who are a threat to Konoha's safety, but in all seriousness, those people are getting out of hand and with them out of the picture, my job will be easier."

"But a ninja? You, becoming a ninja?" the look on her face says total disbelief. And he can't blame her. "What's your intention, Naruto? You won't just accept becoming a ninja even if it's the Hokage himself who appointed you—no, you _won't_ accept it especially if it's the Hokage who appointed you. Just what kind of nasty things are you getting yourself into, Naruto?"

He smirks. "The good one."

Saren slumps backwards to the cushion of her chair. Her parfait is melting…

"So, will you do it?"

"Fine, I'll do it." Saren answers, making him glad. "But you know the drill."

"I get it. I'll owe you a favor." He smiles. "Just mention it, as long as it's in my power to do so."

"But really though…" The frilly dressed girl starts, sighing. "Oh yeah, when do you want them delivered?"

"As soon as you can, don't want to disrupt you with your work."

"Hm… you're still as patient as ever huh?" she utters.

Naruto does not reply, instead he finishes the cup of coffee in one gulp. "Besides, I'll be busy adjusting myself to my ninja life. If you know what I mean."

"Yeah, yeah… but as a genin, the pay sucks though." Saren says, resuming on her parfait. "Besides, from what I know, genin level shinobis will only be doing chores instead of a mission."

"It's not the money Saren… it's the chances. If I become a ninja, I'll have permission to go beyond the walls and into the outside world. Who knows what kind of people I'll be meeting? Besides, I'll be travelling with a jonin and hopefully two kids who know what they are doing, it's a win situation for me since the chances of me getting killed are getting lower and lower."

At the mention of him getting killed, Saren snorts as if that statement is bad humor. She knows of Naruto's 'condition'. His uniqueness so to say… but she hasn't seen him getting stabbed or hit or something like that. It just so happened that she stumbled upon him while he is metamorphosing… yeah, that's probably the correct term. She was scared shitless, she actually wet herself but thank God that it was night at that time and that they were outside. So, she knew of his condition but never seen him as he'd describe himself to her. About him being so damn tough or hard physically. Sure, he did literally turned into stone, but stones are not only hard… they're brittle too.

Now that she is thinking about this, she cannot help but ask. "Say Naruto… about your _condition_." The blonde perks up. "When I saw you when you … well, changed, won't it be a convenience for you?"

His answer is immediate. "No, nope. The opposite actually." He says. "My body is tough even if I don't do anything to it like channeling chakra and all that, it only gets tougher when I am in that state. The form that I was in when you saw me in my other state is called Cinders. At that state, I am brittle, hard, tough, heavy, and dense and so on and so forth; quite like the actual thing, cinder blocks."

"State… so there is more than just one state?" the information broker concludes after piecing one and one.

"Oh yeah. There's Iron and Glass." He lists down. "Those, along with Cinders, are the main one. There are also branches like Obsidian, Steel, Copper, Titanium, Concrete, Clay, Diamond, Chalk and even Ivory. And yeah, some of them I based from their properties while some are… well, you'll know if you see me in action."

"So… what do they call you? Mineral Man or something?" Saren asks, baffled.

"No. And for your information, some of the things I mentioned are not even minerals. Obsidian isn't a mineral."

The girl shrugs. "Fine."

The blonde chuckles, shifting a little bit on his chair. "Why are you asking about me all of a sudden, interested?"

This question catches the girl off guard, causing her face to redden immediately. "Wha – What do you mean?! I was just… eh… I was just asking that's all, got a problem with that?"

"No, no I don't. Just surprised that's all." He smiles at her, getting her all the more flushed.

' _Damn blondes and their charm…_ ' she eats her parfait even faster than before in an attempt to cool herself down. "GACK! BRAIN FREEZE!"

Naruto laughs heartily as he watches the girl suffer from her brain freeze. Decided to help her, he motions for her to bring her head near him. Since she is in the state she is in, Saren has no complaints or whatsoever. With his right hand on her forehead, the blonde does his magic and slowly, Saren feels better.

"Whoa… it's gone. Is this also a part of your unique condition?" the blonde retracted his hand from her forehead, much to her silent displeasure.

"Nah, basic medical ninjutsu." The blonde dismisses her thoughts. "My condition only involves my body physically, so I have to learn on how to do that on my own. The hospital's ICU is a perfect place to watch medics treat patients who are badly hurt, long story short, I've no need to buy bandages from shops anymore."

"Hm… you ninjas sure have it easy huh?" Saren sighs to herself, her shoulders slumping a little bit.

Naruto winks, tapping his forehead hintingly. "Nuh uh. Not a ninja yet, remember? Later, at three, I'll have to go to a training ground to receive my… qualification test." He says. "I don't know what it's going to be though, but there's a high chance that it'll involve me getting hit and hurting said hitter while doing so."

"Pfft!" Saren stifles her laughter, finding the mental image funny. "You so have to tell me about it later." Her eyes trail to the clock on the café's wall, realizing that she has no more time to spend over chats and tea, it is time for her to return. "Well, I think it's time I go back now… I have other clients to entertain, after all." She stands from her place, jumping out of the sofa.

"Ah, it's time for me to go too." Naruto simply slides outside, stretching his hands and legs after sitting for quite a time. He sees Saren taking out her purse and he quickly stops her. "Ah, you don't have to pay. I'll treat us both."

Saren gives him a questioning look. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, besides, you're helping me already so consider this an… early payment from me."

Saren giggles. "You idiot blonde, trying to look so cool."

"Hey, you can't stop a guy from trying to look cool in front of a girl." Naruto answers back, grinning.

It's a nice morning indeed.

* * *

After their morning breakfast and tea or coffee and cake in his case, they split up in front of the café with their own business to do. Saren, there's no mistaking it; the girl is getting ready to prepare to contact those people who owe her favors. The blonde, being a gentleman he is, bids the younger girl farewell before becoming one with the crowd. There is still another three hour before his supposed 'examination'. What to do to waste time… since he is full, yes believe it or not he is the type of guy who gets full by eating sweets, eating again is out of the question.

Training? Then that would defeat the purpose of the exams later, he'd tire himself already with Hanabi this early morning and since he did make her wet herself, he won't be seeing her or any other Hyuuga anytime soon, for the sake of his safety. So what to do… pranks are out of the question since he is lacking in materials and scouting for his personal business is also not that important at the moment; now that he is going to become a legitimate shinobi of Konoha, he'd figure that the best course of action is to minimalize his business; just so the old goat won't catch a whiff of what he's trying to do.

Secrecy in Konoha is so bad. It's so bad that he is not surprised if Iwa already knows that the key to the Hokage's porn stash is underneath the carpet. For far more important things like jutsus, forbidden ones and the higher ranking ones, however are kept safe but there is no telling if people out there knows about it specifically. Saren will take time gathering the information he needs, in the meantime, he will discover the shinobi while doing minimal work on his own interest. The Hokage has eyes and ears almost everywhere in Konoha, but he is confident in his sensor abilities, so there is no need to worry about the eyes and hears looking or hearing about things that they aren't supposed to; but that does not mean that he could lower his guard.

It's a tough life he is currently living in… what's worse is the fact he is the only one who chose the path he's taken now. But you know what they say, once it's set in stones then it is final. No turning back, not even a glance behind.

"Hey! You, the blonde hottie!"

Snapped out from his thoughts, Naruto looks from left to right; making sure if he was not hearing things.

"Yeah you, the blondie over there!" the same female voice he heard before is heard once again through his ears.

Okay it's confirmed, someone is calling out to him.

Directing his vision towards the source of the call, Naruto comes face to face with an unfamiliar face. A girl, notably shorter than him by a few inches—barely reaching his chin, and a hairstyle that definitely makes her look iconic. Twin buns in the color of hazel brown, a brunette of a girl calling out to him, dressed in a Chinese styled clothing with weapon pouches on her thighs. On her forehead is a forehead protector that carries the emblem of Konoha, marking her a ninja. From her looks alone, it's easy to tell that she is a genin. And her chakra levels are above the normal ones that genins usually have, making her skilled in a few fields of ninjutsu.

However, his field of vision is not limited to that only. Look at her arms, or her forearm to be exact. The muscle there is toned, much more than the ones on her abdominals, thigh and back. She must've done a lot of kunai throwing practice to be able to have that kind of complexion. Her eyes too, like him, are scanning him; but it seems that she is not capable of doing so in the length that he is capable of.

His eyes coincidentally meet hers, confirming her call. She runs toward him, on her arms are what seems to be fliers of some sort. Before he knows it, she shoves one of the fliers to his face. "Here take this, you look like a person who might seem interested in weapons like I do."

Taking the paper off from his face and her hand, he narrows his eyes. So he is right… she is familiar with weapons. He takes a moment to read the pamphlet, raising an eyebrow as he does so. "Hagane's weapon shops, providing the right tools for the right fools. Wow, nice slogan there." He deadpans.

The girl with the buns has the decency to look sheepish as she starts to rub the back of her head while looking away in embarrassment. "Hehehe… that's my dad's doing; I was against it at the first time but seeing that there's no deeper meaning than content… so… yeah." She explains awkwardly. "Anyway, please do visit okay? We're just at the end of the road, you'll see our sign miles away. See ya blondie!" she turns and proceeds to do the righteous act of advertising.

Naruto eyes the pamphlet once again before shrugging his shoulders. He folds the paper and pockets it into his persons. "Meh, maybe I'll visit when I finally become a real ninja. In the meantime…" he flexes his arms, pops his fingers and stretches them. "these will do." By doing so, he has gathered the attention of the female majority who are now staring at him with looks in their eyes. Being the natural charmer he is, he winks back at them, giving them quite the shock.

"No reason to be here any longer… better head home." With his hands folded behind his head, he heads home. And by home, he meant his shithole of an apartment. Taking the shortcut back, he ends up in alleyways filled with the homeless and junks, both the non-living things and the living things. Even a proud village like Konoha has its own sets of unfortunate societies like this… he is not surprised.

His apartment is not far really, just southeast of here now that he's past the shopping district and commercial district. Right now, he is about to enter the slums, the slums. The place where people with holes in their pockets live, the place where social outcasts resides and the place where Konoha's resident Jinchuriki is making his home at. Since the place he is living at does not house that many residents, only some people know of him living there; aside from the Hokage and his little bands of ANBUs who occasionally visit from time to time.

Apartment room number 609, floor ten. That's his condo, his casa de suite… or whatever that is.

Again, the place is a shithole, but it's a comfortable one. Besides, rent is cheap… though they really should get proper plumbing soon. He's sick of having to take baths with water that comes out from the shower mixed with rat piss in them. There's a door, a room, a living room, a fridge, a portable kitchen, a couch, a junk called television and two flickering lightbulbs for lighting. Real shit right here. But, as they all say, beggars aren't choosers. Maybe his ninja career, compiled with the odd jobs and favor he'll be running, will elevate him off from that statement.

"I'm home." As always, no one replies.

Kicking off his sandal shoes, he closes the door shut before plopping to his couch and breathing in the scent of rusted metals that is most definitely not healthy for the lungs, normal lungs at least, not his. Seriously, he has no time to worry about things like that. He figures that a short nap will do him good. So he closes his eyes, letting sleep overcome him.

And he falls to slumber.

* * *

Goggles; check.

Rubber gloves; check.

Those are basically the two things that he'll need for the upcoming occasion, basically.

Oh, and an extra pair of clothes, who knows when he might morph…

Standing beyond him are people, and from the look on their faces, it seems that they are not taking him seriously. One of them is even cracking jokes already about how a blonde brat is about to get his ass handed to him. And he is supposed to be a Jonin… shame really. But more importantly, the Hokage and his ANBU guards are present; that is enough to keep the talking and bickering to a minimum level. Standing in the middle of the designated training ground is him, dressed in nothing more than his orange vest, a pair of red trainers, his sandals and his favorite pair of goggles which are currently fixed to his forehead.

There is also a crowd of spectators, no doubt the people that will be doing the evaluation along with the Hokage. There are quite an imbalance with the number of Jonins to the number of ANBUs in the crowd… he is basically filtering them through chakra levels, but some are unidentifiable, simply because their uniform does not state their color or affiliation. He glances around, slowly taking in the scenery of people looking down at him, mocking him, belittling him… he is not bothered by that, not all. What he is pissed off, in fact, is the waiting.

"Oi you old goat." Everyone, except the Hokage and Itachi, is shocked at the way he addressed the wizened Hokage. "Can we start already? I need to go back home and water my plants you see, because… uh… science."

Everyone sweat dropped at the reason.

Hirzuen slaps himself on the face, uttering soft curses to himself as to why he didn't think of this sooner than now. Switching to a serious look, he eyes the boy for a second. Lightly armed… not even an equipment pouch… is this boy taking this as a joke?... no, definitely not but it is interesting. Hiruzen has to admit, he knows nothing of the boy's skill, aside from his condition. He gives Itachi, who is standing by his right side, a look as well as a nod. The long haired Uchiha nods before whispering to his ANBU subordinate.

"Uzumaki Naruto." The Third Hokage starts, entering a deep speech. "Before you are the shinobis of Konoha; loyal to their Kage, adamant and fearless in battle. They are men and women who possess skills that ensure the peace and safety of this village along with the people in it. Can you, Uzumaki Naruto, contribute the same?" he ends it with a questioning cliff, leaving behind a long and mute silence.

"…No, I can't contribute the same…" the blonde starts. He stares at the old man in the eyes, his lips stretched to a grin. "I'll contribute more."

Inwards, Hiruzen is smirking. "Very well, we shall see about that." He says. From behind him, three people dressed in ANBU uniforms steps forward, all dressed in the same uniform but different masks. The one in the middle is wearing what seems to be a lion's mask and is a male, the one on his left is a female and she wears what Naruto thinks to be a bird's mask and the final one, the one standing on lion's right side is wearing a mask which has the feature of a bear and the wearer is a male. All three are equipped with standard ANBU equipment and gears such as tantos, high quality kunais and shurikens, maybe a roll of fine steel wire and some explosives tags to go with them. How does he know about what type of equipment does the ANBU have with them, one might ask… well, he raided their base, remember?

"These three ANBU specialist will be testing you in three different fields. Lion will be responsible in testing you in your ninjutsu, Bear will be seeing how good your taijutsu is and Bird will be testing you in genjutsu." Hiruzen explains firmly. "Since this is only a test, they will be given turns."

Aw, the old goat is worried. How cute.

"Now, begin."

Naruto is not prepared. His eyes didn't even see the blur of black that is bear lunging at him with his fist cocked back. The blonde's eyes widen in brief surprise, but it is that, brief.

 **CRACK**

A loud and sickening cracking sound echoes throughout the field. Everyone, even Hiruzen, is expecting the boy to end up with a broken nose or even face completely. But they are wrong. Bear mutes his scream, but it is obvious that he is hurt. He falls to one knee, clutching his broken wrist in definite pain. While everyone is immersed in their shock, Naruto sees this as his chance to counter act and by counter act, he meant a boot with the equivalent crashing power of a bull made of diamonds crashing to Bear's face. The result is not that surprising, to Naruto only. Bear is launched quite far away, but it is not the distance that matters, the damage done however… is nearly fatal.

The ceramic that most of the ANBU's masks are made off cracks broken, leaving Bear with a bleeding face and a lot of debt for his plastic surgery session later on. But he is an ANBU, the best of the best, the special operatives… he won't go down with just a boot to the face. Given the man is still in pain after getting his wrist broken and his face crushed with a very hard boot and not to mention the shrapnel that are stuck to his skin, he is shaky and dizzy. Again, the blonde uses this chance as an advantage. He never really go one on one against an ANBU, so this is his one and only chance to try it out. He disappears from bear's line of sight, but Bear—being a trained fellow he is—anticipates the kick aimed for his head from behind.

Reminded of what fate his right wrist is in right now, Bear takes the safest course of action and that is to duck under the kick and jumping to create a distance between him and the boy. His wrist is still pulsing from the pain alone… it seems that he has to go from taijutsu to kenjutsu now. He unsheathes the tanto on his back with his left hand, holding it in a ready grip. He runs forward, sword in hand, and when he gets close to the blonde, he makes a slicing motion.

"You're going to need more than a pair of rubber gloves to stop this one, kid."… is probably what the ANBU is saying inside of his head.

But that's where you're wrong, mister ANBU. _You_ are the one who needs him to wear his rubber gloves in order for you not to end up six feet under the Konoha's shinobi cemetary.

What's supposed to happen is for a large horizontal slash wound to be made on the blonde's chest, so imagine everyone's surprise when they see the upper part of the ANBU's sword's blade breaks to a single fragment. Bear tries to react immediately by kicking his way out from the blonde's range, but the word 'tries' is the keyword here. Naruto's gloved fist crashes to Bear's lightly armored abdomen, the man spits out not only saliva but also blood to his mask's broken interior. Then a follow up left jab to the ribs is delivered by the blonde, as well as spinning shoulder attack to the ANBU's left cheek and finally a finishing uppercut to Bear's chin which sends him up two feet into the air while breaking his mask entirely and pushing his chin upwards into his face.

Silence. Not a single bicker coming from the audience, both the Hokage and his ninjas. What they have seen here is something impossible. Completely impossible. They just witnessed a no ranked boy beating a highly trained and experienced ANBU who somehow has managed to break said ANBU's wrist and fingers by letting the same ANBU punch him, completely rearranged the ANBU's face into a mess and break some bones in the ANBU's body. If Bear isn't unconscious then no one knows what state he is in now. The blonde yawns while stretching his arms up in the air as emphasize and a way to shake himself off the feeling of relaxation.

"Next?"

And that's what he got.

" **Suiton: Water Spear!"**

The blonde's reaction to the spike of chakra coming from a certain direction is minimal, as in it's just a raise of an eyebrow. Before the blonde knows it, he is wet already; soaked from head to toe with water created from chakra and the water particles in the air. The blonde blinks a few times to register the fact that the ninjutsu section of the test had just begin. He jumps back to scan his opponent, Lion. The blonde's eyes widen when he sees something fast comes zapping at him.

" **Raiton: Volt Shot."** A soccer ball sized lightning orb comes flying at him with speeds faster than his eyes could even register. Naruto feels, coupled with the fact that he is wet, the tingly sensation of lightning coursing his entire body. He feels a brief sensation of numbness on his legs, his arms, his torso and even neck; but not enough to make him fall unconscious. He just stands there, unmoving. Paralyzed and 'vulnerable', the blonde could do nothing when Lion comes running toward him with his fingers flashing hand signs at him. **"Katon: Fireball!"** heat meets his soaked and paralyzed state; the giant ball of fire comes to contact with his skin, causing him to channel more chakra than the usual amount in order for him to be able to tank the attack straight on.

There is not even the slightest bit of pain, scorch and even sear when the fireball hits him. All that it does is just scorch his soaked shirt, really… and since it is soaked, it's not really scorched, just a little bit ashen. The display of him taking basic ninjutsus straight on like that gains the people's attention, awe and disbelief. However, the scene is more than enough to keep them from talking in the middle of the fight. Once that Naruto feels his body again, he dashes forward in order to engage Lion in a one on one. He channels chakra to his fists, adding for a terrifying outcome. Ninjutsu does not necessarily mean that he has to shoot out flashy techniques; it basically means the use of chakra in a fight like this. So as long as he's using chakra for his punches, kicks and hits; he's okie dokie.

Lion, after having seen how the boy fights, decides that the best course of action is for him to play on the defensive and not attack the boy straight on. So the first thing that he does when seeing the boy readying for a punch is for him to dodge it at all cost, retreat and throw a jutsu that will hopefully affect the boy. As he has predicted, Naruto is straightforward with his fists; the blonde's punch is easily dodged with ANBU level reflexes and Lion uses the moment to kick himself away from the blonde all the while readying a couple of hand signs. **"Doton: Earth Dome!"** the earth grumble and shakes underneath the blonde, and suddenly a dome forms from the earth that sprung up from the ground; forming a small dome shaped structure that traps the blonde inside. Lion is confident that the kid will not be able to escape from this one, he used a lot of chakra to make sure that the structure is thick and strong, so there is no way of him bursting through it all badass and like.

For once, everyone is convinced that the boy is trapped. With no air for him to breathe, there is no way that he could stay in there for more than ten minutes. Then suddenly, something very, very terrifying happens.

"Surprise motherfucker." Imagine someone saying that with a muffled tone and it's coming from the underground. A hand shot up right next to Lion's leg. With no time to react much less jump, Lion can only suffer as said hand drags him into the ground, leaving him buried neck down in the earth. Shortly later, the blonde himself comes bursting out from a few meters away; gasping and heaving. He crawls out from the shaft underneath him, clothes and skin all covered in dirt. The teen stands on his feet, dusting his shoulders, hands, pants and vest from whatever dirt he could get rid of.

"Phew… thank God that I knew a few Doton techniques…" he mutters. "Otherwise, I'll have to do CPR with my own clone…" then he notices the still conscious ANBU stuck to the ground. Why is he still conscious? Well, he won't be; not anymore. "Ah, sorry I forgot. Here." He approaches the ANBU, who is desperately trying to do anything but to no avail, and raises his boot near his face. "No hard feelings, okay?"

 **THUMP**

Two ANBUs knocked out in a day… much originality, such sweg…

Naruto directs his head to his final examiner. Said examiner is prepared for everything, she reaches for her sword; anticipating for him to charge at her straight on. She slowly watches him raise a finger to his face, each passing seconds causes sweat to pool more and more on her forehead.

A tiger seal.

"Katsu."

 **BOOM**

Bird is knocked out via an explosion from the back.

.

.

.

"Eh… what the fuck just happened?" an intelligent question comes from the audience.

Naruto humors them. "I used an exploding tag on her and she's unconscious, duh."

"How… or when did you place an exploding tag on Bird?" this time, it's the Hokage who asked in a small voice.

"Oh, I didn't just put one on her." Everyone's stomach sinks. "I did not know who I will be up against so, while the you were giving me the boring and completely unnecessary speech about your ninjas and battlefields, safety and peace, and contributions; I decide that at that moment, the best course of action is put explosive tags behind everyone's back!" he spreads his arms and says so cheerfully, a large grin plastered on his face.

Everyone checks their backs immediately and indeed, there is an explosive tag behind them; yes even the Hokage has one. And no, not only the jonin level ninjas, but the ANBUs too.

"So gramps," Naruto begins with a questioning edge. "Did I pass?"

Needless to say… Itachi is pestering the Hokage for the boy's recruitment in ANBU even more now.

* * *

"Whew… finally got my ninja's degree!"

Walking around town, he is now sporting a new look. Not exactly a new look, he is still handsome and all that, but instead of his goggles; he now wears his newly acquired forehead protector which has Konoha's insignia etched onto it. He taps the piece of hardened metal with a large grin on his face, this thing is too soft to be called steel and too thin to be called iron. So… it's a very thick iron, perhaps? Nope. It's actually titanium. Wow. It turns out this thing might just prevent a stray kunai from hitting somebody right in the forehead. Titanium is expensive metal, he knows this because some of the ninja wires he used are made from titanium and they are freaking expensive.

"Hm… speaking of which…" a sudden thought suddenly dawns upon the young teen, his mind processing capability is heightened to reach whatever conclusion that he is trying to find. "Ah crap! If my timing's shittier than those high nosed Uchiha's, then now…!" to his anxiety and panic, his skin begins to harden. And it looks like, this time, it's going to be harder than the last time. Literally.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!" he curses in a very incredible speed, getting the onlooker's attention on him. He begins looking around, trying to look for a place where he could hide from people. And to his luck, there's an alley just up ahead. With all of his remaining stamina from the earlier test, which is still a lot, he runs toward said alley; panicked with his heart beating loudly inside his chest. His skin is starting to harden, he could feel it change all the way down to his toes and up to his neck. Fortunately, those parts are covered by his clothing, but not his face. He slips into the alley without getting people's attention, looks like he made it.

"Haaaah..." he releases a long breath of relief, now that he has successfully hidden himself. Leaning on the alley's wall, he slides down along the wall and to his butt; making a screeching sound akin to that of metal being dragged downwards the wall's rough surface. "Man, that was a very close one." As he sits, he can already notice that his body is heavier than before… but other than that, nothing. In his metamorphic state, he could neither feel hot or cold, pain or pleasure. He can't.

He looks at his palms, examining them. "What is it this time? Iron… no, steel. Yes, this is definitely steel." Iron is rougher and softer than Steel. Also, Steel shines more than Iron and more heat resistant. It's a good thing that the morphing just began now, if it were to happen during his exams… then he'd have a lot to explain to the Hokage; and he definitely doesn't want that.

Sighing, he brings himself to his feet again. "I can go home from here. Just have to stick to the alleyways." He says to himself. Pulling his vest's hood to his head, he walks deeper into the alley and finally makes his way home for real this time.

He just hopes that no one will stumble upon him.

* * *

 **Hm… this chapter… I'm not proud of it. But hey, good things start slowly I guess. Anyway, it seems that more is known about Naruto's unique condition; and not just about him being able to be as tough as diamonds, but also some of the other categories that the blonde himself—or I—have register them under. This Naruto won't be too OP. I'll say that now. He is just a tank; he could tank a lot of damage done to him; that's all. But that does not mean that he won't grow from his weaknesses, he will become strong, maybe stronger even.**

 **If I am to go by the common reason as to why Naruto is able to move while being in the state he is in, it's because his body has adapt to it at a very young age. More about the blonde's past will be told in future chapters and also his so called 'job'. Oh, and I hope that you guys don't mind OCs; because future ones and already existing one—Saren—might just play a huge role in this story. And in case if you haven't notice… this isn't canon at all. Sure, there will be canon events, but they will be heavily altered by me so I hope that you won't mind that one too.**

 **Anything else… ah, I need help with fight scenes. As you may have noticed from the one written in this chapter, I am not that good at making them. So, please, if you are willing to help or contribute, let me know by giving me a PM. Again, you can give me reviews if you are going to criticize me and point out mistakes, I really appreciate the one given by an anonymous Guest; thanks buddy. Your favorites and follows are already enough to make me going with this project, but maybe the same rules won't apply to future projects.**

 **Ah… speaking of which… I am interested in what you—readers—would like to see from me. Would you like me to write a crossover series, or just normal one franchised one like this? Please, let me know by PMing me and if you have a good idea in mind, let's discuss it.**

 **I've taken a long time with this ending note, so I'll end it here.**

 **This is me, signing out.**


	3. Introductions to 'friends'

**Beta'd, for your viewing purposes.**

* * *

It is morning or to be exact, it's six thirty two.

At this hour, Konoha has already begun its morning routine. Shops are beginning to open, people are getting out of bed, birds are chirping and the local military police office has dispatched a few patrols to the area it is in charge of. In short, everyone is getting busy with their daily schedule of work and activities. However, our resident Jinchuurki started his day much earlier. In fact, he has just finished his tenth lap around the slums he's living in. Right now the blonde is taking a small break in the training ground he'd usually train with Hanabi in, the same place where said Hyuuga wet her pants. It was obvious that she wouldn't be coming and meeting him anytime soon but it's not like he has any complaints about that; it's best for her, or any Hyuuga for that matter, to not see him.

Taking a water bottle filled with cold water, the blonde puts the tip of the bottle on his lips, tilting the bottle upwards so that the water splashed over his dry tongue, before pooling at the back of his throat. The sensation of cold liquid invades his mouth, and he feels it cooling his body from the inside out. A refreshing break after his morning workout session, nothing's unfair here. However, this is not enough. After drinking for a few more seconds, he pours the entire content all over his head and body; this is another way of cooling himself down and to be honest, he prefers this method since it is a lot quicker and twice as effective. He doesn't have to worry about his shirt getting wet, because he's not wearing one. However, the same cannot be said for his pants. It's wet for sure, not only from sweat, but also from the refreshing beverage currently being emptied on to him. He might as well not wear them since they're wet but he didn't pack an extra pair with him.

"Puuah!" the blonde shakes his head, getting water droplets everywhere. His blue eyes are shining with a certain gleam in them, probably just due to the sun's rays. He is an energetic fellow, anybody with common sense can see that, so keeping still is not something he could stand doing for a long period of time. In short, he's man of action; he'll do anything he wants as long as he's having fun. He puts the empty water bottle back into his backpack and he brings out a spare change of shirt from his pack, since his previous one is gone. How? Don't ask. He puts on the simple grey t-shirt, and his vest follows afterwards. His color palette is mismatched, but it's not like everyone's bothered by it. Right?

He puts on his pack on his back, getting himself ready for a very important event in his life.

Meeting his team.

Yup, you heard that right; he is finally meeting his team. That means he has to go to the academy and join class for the team announcement. Yesterday, one of the Hokage's shinobi—probably one of them who watched his qualification test—delivered him a message from the old goat himself saying that he's to come to the academy today in order to know his team. Everyone's informed, the academy teacher is informed but he is not sure if the graduates are though. He can already predict how the situation will be like later on… Right now, before going to the academy, he's going to go and grab a quick breakfast at his favorite Eatery. It's called Ichiraku Ramen. As the name suggests, it's a ramen store, and even better, as its main menu; only ramen! That's why he loves that place, ramen! He can already smell the soft and mouthwatering scent of broth all the way from the training grounds… okay, maybe that's a little bit farfetched but he's hungry. So. Agonizingly. hungry.

"Can't wait to get today's special." He begins walking toward his destination, the ramen place.

On the way there, he gets to see familiar faces. He encountered the two gate guards, Kotetsu and Izumo—it seems that the both of them are sleeping on the job, but he can't really blame them—the old lady from the grocery store, the guy who sells cabbages and radishes. He knows them, but not that well. They just know him and apparently, not as the 'demon kid' or anything synonymous, but as a blonde brat who loves to get into trouble. After meeting all of those friendly faces, he finally ends up in his destination. Ichiraku Ramen. He sniffs the air and to his delight, he smells something in return. It seems that Teuchi and Ayame have just opened the shop.

"Excuse me!" entering through the covers and into the small shop, he announces himself.

"Oh, Naruto!" Teuchi, the head ramen chef and legitimate owner of this ramen stand, replies as soon as he sees the face of his favorite customer entering his stand. Teuchi is a man in his forties, fifties probably but that doesn't matter; he makes the best. Ramen. Ever! "You're up earlier than usual, my boy; you'd usually arrive after a few more minutes."

Naruto laughs good-naturedly as he takes a seat in one of the empty stools. "Hahaha, yeah. But I just can't help it; I want to eat ramen so bad that it's compelling me to come here sooner every time."

Teuchi laughs in return to his favorite customer's response. "Well said my boy, come and get yourself comfortable. I'll have Ayame prepare a bowl for you." He says to the boy before returning to his preparation. "Ayame! Naruto is here!"

As soon as the word 'Naruto' is mentioned, something happens in the back of the store. The sound of metal hitting the floor, it seems. And it is followed by the sound of rapid footsteps approaching to this direction. Then the figure of a girl of an average height comes sprouting up so suddenly from the back door, her face extremely glad.

"Naruto, you're here!" she approaches the counter to greet the blonde boy. This is Ayame, Teuchi's one and only daughter, and also the waitress and soup chef. She helps her dad with the cooking, cleaning and dishes. So she must be a really good wife candidate… at least that's what Teuchi had been telling him privately. The first thing Ayame does when she sees the boy is to pet him on the crown of his head, doing so with a huge smile on her face. She is, after all, happy to see her little brother present and hungry for ramen.

Then the girl's face turns into a mock angry one, her arms crossed on her chest and is no longer petting him. "Why aren't you here yesterday young man? Don't tell me that you've been getting yourself involved with bad people again?" she knows of Naruto's antics to get into trouble easily, so she cannot help but worry about him from time to time.

The blonde in question laughs her question off with a wave. "Nothing Nee-chan, but it's important and amazing though." At this, every hint of mock anger disappears from her face, replaced with interest. "You'll be so surprised when I tell you about it, Nee-chan."

"Really? What is it?"

"Nuh uh, not until I get my ramen." The blonde genin mock pouts.

"Fine… dad, bring Naruto his ramen already, I want to know what this little tyke is keeping from me!"

Teuchi responds with a laugh. "Comin' right up dear!"

It's always fun talking with the Ichiraku's. They are the very first people who'd shown him kindness in its purest form, generosity. They are the kindest and most generous people that he knows, sure there are people like the Hokage and some people he knew, but none are like the Ichiraku's. It's as if he's home whenever he'd enter their shop.

Ayame returns with a bowl of steaming hot ramen on a tray, she places the bowl of ramen in front of her little brother's face; much to his delight. "Okay, here you go, now tell me." She is persistent when it comes to certain things, which is why Naruto likes her so much. Maybe that's his attraction, persistent girls? Maybe? But Ayame is like sister to him, so there's no way he'd ever have feelings for her. Unless divine intervention of course.

"Okay, okay." He swears it, this girl and Saren might just be related in terms of persistency. He breathes in. "I was made genin by the Hokage himself." There, he said it.

"…"

Naruto blinks cautiously. Is it really that surprising? Judging by Ayame's expression, she is not expecting that kind of answer. Well he can't blame her, even Saren is surprised. But after a few moment of silence, Ayame's expression morphs into that of a happy one. "That's great Naruto! You get to be a ninja!" she exclaims. "Isn't that what boys want to be nowadays? Getting to learn cool jutsus, go on awesome missions and all that?"

The blonde delinquent scoffs at the things that the waitress's has just mentioned. "Yeah, if I was eight… but no. To tell you honestly Nee-chan, the idea of becoming a shinobi never really struck me. But, yeah, I have to admit that their jobs are not boring; unless if you're stuck with gate duty like Kotetsu and Izumo-san. It's just that the Hokage probably saw potential in me or something and through the miserable yet useful power called nepotism, I am now a legitimate genin of Konoha." He flicks his forehead protector. He's surprised that no one notices it.

Finally having calmed down, Ayame gives the boy a look of disbelief. "Really? You never thought of becoming a ninja? Not at all?" she sees him shaking his head in negative. "Wow… I'm surprised. I thought that you'd be running around declaring things like 'I'll be the greatest ninja ever' or something like that." The fact that she is saying this with a very convincing tone is what makes it scary.

Naruto cringes mentally, confused as to why he just felt insulted. "Please don't say that… anyway, I better dig in now, don't want my ramen to get cold now do I?" he grabs a pair of chopsticks, breaking them apart and getting ready to dig in. "Itadakimasu!" and digging in, he did.

Ramen is just a piece of heaven for him. It's literally the food of the Gods. It makes all the bad things in life fade away whenever he the strong yet smooth taste of ramen broth touches his palate. The noodle, soft and gentle to the touch, is stretchy and fulfilling. The perfect combination between salt, pepper, spices and ginger is what makes him want more of this magnificent dish. The meat, chopped pork with fats that melts as soon as it enters his mouth, is addicting as it is. No need for extra seasoning, the dish is perfect as it is. And the eggs, you can't forget the eggs. Soaked in sake, vinegar and soy sauce before they are placed as toppings; are just hnggggggh…! If he's any lesser man, he'd melt from the sensation. But since he is a tough person, the aftermath just leaves him wanting for more.

Before he knows it, he is done with his first bowl already. And whenever Uzumaki Naruto eats ramen, there will always be a second bowl, a third, a fourth and so on and so forth. So yeah, he is going to be soooo late getting to the academy. But it's not like they'll care, everyone has that one time in life where they are late at coming to a certain important event in their lives. This is it for him.

After having his… seventh bowl, it is when he realizes that he had enough of ramen. He pays for his food and leaves immediately, not wanting to make a bad impression of himself in front of the people.

Especially his teammates.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke is a quiet, mysterious type, with the pretty boy looks to go along with it.

These two reasons are obviously the reason as to why he has his loyal group of fan girls following him around after class all day, every day. But! That will change starting today. Why, because today is the day when his life will be changed for the better. Yes, starting from today, he—Uchiha Sasuke—is an official genin of Konoha. Today is the graduation day and he will soon meet his future teammates and instructor, thus beginning his career as a shinobi of Konoha. Pride swells inside of the boy's heart; he can't help but feel proud of his achievement. Sure, most of the people in class graduated, but there is one thing that makes his achievement special more special than the rest.

He is the rookie of the year, the top ranking and the best in terms of performance in this batch's graduates. Just like his brother he was a graduate. He scored every single tests, be it the exams or the physical ones, in perfect marks; giving him a hundred percent passing grade.

Of course, as what his father would say, it is to be expected from an Uchiha to graduate with the highest score. But Sasuke believes that it is not due to his status as an Uchiha that he was able to do so good in the exams, it is only through his hard work, determination and will that he ended up with the highest grade. Sure, his father might have given him training which only someone with the status as an Uchiha could afford, but it all comes down to himself in the end. Itachi told him that there are two types of people in this world; geniuses and hard workers. However, the question that falls into Sasuke's mind, which one is he?

Just as the rookie of the year is about to delve further into his thoughts, the sound of the classroom's door being harshly opened knocks him out from it. Sasuke sighs openly, his face showing a brief expression of annoyance and irritation. This is one of the reason why he is so glad that he is going to become a ninja.

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Sasuke-kun!"

Two energetic, shrill and eardrum piercing screams hurt Sasuke as much as it hurts everyone else in the room. A blur of pink and yellow zooms through the entire classroom, both ends up beside him; with one taking his right and the other one taking his left. These girls are two of his fan girls, but they're also the most notorious out of all. The one with the pink hair is Haruno Sakura, a civilian born girl who enters the academy because of her attraction to the Uchiha. There is no denying the girl's true intention, it's as obvious as stating that pigs can't fly. Her only drive, motivation and inspiration is the Uchiha. One might say that she is trying to 'play' ninja and who knows, they might just be true. The other one is Yamanaka Ino. Unlike Sakura, who is born from a normal civilian family, she comes from the famous Yamanaka clan who has a reputation for having psychological powers such as mind reading and things connected to the human mind. Their clan is also famous for owning most of the flower shops in Konoha and unlike the Hyuuga or the Uchiha, their clan does not have a huge compound all to themselves.

Ino takes the Uchiha's right side while Sakura has the honor of taking the left. Realizing that they are in similar a similar position, they start to glare at each other with lightning in their eyes. "Ino pig, let go of Sasuke-kun! You don't belong here piggy!" Sakura throws in her usual insults of calling Ino a farm animal.

Ino, not feeling offended in the slightest, gives Sakura a challenging smirk. "You're the one who doesn't belong here forehead! Why are you trying so hard to appeal Sasuke-kun with your nonexistent charms? Your chest is flat as your forehead." Throwing in the final punch with a raspberry on top, Ino is definitely the winner for this one.

"Wha-! Why you little…"

Sasuke thanks whoever is up there. Before the two could engage in their barrage of insults and declaration of 'love' towards him, the door to the room slides open, revealing their soon to be ex-teacher Umino Iruka. Iruka is a tall man who appears to be in his early twenties. He is tanned, and his hair is fixed into a messy ponytail similar to the ones that the males from the Nara clan are famous for. Since he is a ninja with Chuunin status, he is wearing his chunin vest over the long sleeved dark navy shirt. He is on complete attire, just like always. He is carrying folder, no doubt that it contains the list of teams for today's graduates. But unknown to his students, he has an important thing to inform.

"Alright guys, settle down… Stop eating Chouji, Shikamaru wake up, don't try to teach Akamaru tricks while inside the class Kiba and Ino, Sakura," a glare is sent their way. "stop bothering people." It's a given that Iruka could be strict when he needs to be. But that expression of strictness disappears when he goes over his students' faces one last time. He can't believe that these kids will become ninjas starting from today. A part of him felt proud of himself to be able to teach these future great shinobi the basic things that they need to know, yet a part of him regrets the fact that he might just be teaching these kids about how cruel the shinobi world really is.

But onto the important part…

"Okay class, I know that today is your graduation and that all of you know each other. This might seem unordinary and sudden, but we will have a new graduate this year outside of the academy." Everyone breaks into whisper, talking amongst each other about the suddenness of the topic. Iruka coughs to his fist, getting his students' attention once again. "Now, now. There's nothing I could do about that. The transferee is recommended by the Hokage himself and he is to be listed in this year's batch of graduates." Then, he frowns. "…It seems that the person is not here yet, well, we will proceed with the team announcement first and then the introduction once the person has arrived."

Iruka is about to open his mouth to announce the teams, until, the door to the room slides open. Again. This time, however, is not a student nor is it a teacher. It is a graduate, who wears his forehead protector proud and high on his forehead with a large grin accompanying his feature. The sight of his iconic spiky blonde hair catches everyone's attention immediately, especially the girls. Coupled with the fact that his outfit is… simple yet unique, the amount of staring he receives is increasing. His sapphire eyes are a sight to behold; no one in class has eyes like him; so fierce, cynic yet calm and smooth.

"Is this the class of this year's graduates?" the newcomer asks, his voice is gruff and recognizable.

Iruka blinks a few times, before shaking himself out from a trance. "Yes, this is the class. You must be the transferee that I was told about please, introduce yourself." The brown haired chunin gestures to the class.

The blonde turns to his audience, seeing that all of their eyes are fixed on him. "Yo, my name's Uzumaki Naruto. This may seem a tad too sudden but I'll be graduating with you guys, so… hope that's fine with all of you." He gives them a friendly smile.

Everyone begins to whisper amongst themselves again, and this time, it does not end in silence; but a raise of hand from one of the students. A boy with a pineapple like hair and a sleepy look on his face raises his hands, getting everyone's attention. "Sensei, isn't it unfair that he gets to graduate without taking the exams while all of us had to?" some of the students are muttering agreements to this question.

The blonde is unfazed, he instead looks at Iruka with the intention of explaining. "Ah, about that… I did took my examinations, it's just at a different place and at a different time." Something really important here. After his qualification test, the Hokage told him to not tell anyone about what kind of exam he did, he said that it's going to arouse questions amongst his councils, but everyone knows that it's just for him to cover up the fact that three of his best ANBUs got beat up by one kid. "Besides, if you don't trust me, you can always walk to the Hokage's office and ask the man himself."

At this, everyone shuts up. The pineapple headed kid shrugs. "Troublesome…" he mutters almost in a trademarked manner.

"Now that everyone is satisfied with the questions, please take a seat on the free place next to Shino-kun, Uzumaki-san." Iruka looks at the blonde, receiving a nod in reply. "Shino-kun, please raise your hand."

From the corner of the room is a boy dressed in a light grey trench coat, covering his body from his lips down to his hips. Not to mention, he is also wearing a pair of black shades, if this is a dark alleyway, he might just be mistaken for a drug dealer or something. Now that he knows who he is going to be sitting with, Naruto walks toward the corner of the class to grab an empty seat. Along the way, he could hear others whispering things. Self-based things like his sudden appearance, how unfair it is for him to be here, and some are even whispering about how old he looks. Not that he minds the whispering and all but is he really that unique? Well, aside from the Yamanakas, there are no other notable people with blonde hair; at least none that he knows. But back to the whispering…

He cannot blame them for having those kinds of opinion. His transfer is sudden and the Hokage isn't doing a good job of explaining things to both him and the teacher. However, the weird thing is his status. Isn't it weird for a kid who could hand not only one but three ANBU level ninjas their butts to only be a genin? Maybe it's his own mistake for choosing to be a genin… what would have happened if he were to be placed in the Intelligence division or maybe ANBU? But those things won't give him the experience he needs, people from those rosters are less to receive missions that will involve them going outside the village, especially the Intelligence division. Since the situation is peaceful with the current countries and villages, there's no need for Konoha to send spies or ANBU units all across the map. Unless if the old goat has a few things in mind or anyone from inside or even outside of Konoha is going to cause trouble, then there's no need for ANBUs.

Besides, it would be nice to take things slow and easy; he won't rush into things that are worth experiencing. He's still young, so he might as well just enjoy youth to the fullest. No need to rush and all that, ya know?

Seated on his chair, Naruto takes a moment to greet his neighbor. "Nice to meet you, Shino-san."

The boy responds with an acknowledging nod as well as touch of his shades. It seems that people who wear glasses are more prone to move their hands since they have to prevent their glasses from slipping off. "You too, Naruto-san."

After their very brief greetings, the class resumes with Iruka listing out the teams and names. The first five teams are mentioned, team six are in rotation it seems, so that leaves the remaining ones.

"Team seven will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura-"

"Cyaaah! Take that piggy!"

"Get down from your seat Sakura!" the teacher reacted on impulse at the sudden outburst. "Where was I… oh and Uzumaki Naruto." Said blonde smiles. It seems that he is in the team with the Uchiha… Itachi's little brother nonetheless. He looks at the other teammate, the girl. Their eyes make brief contact and Sakura is the first to chicken out while he chuckles, finding her reaction amusing. He also notices that the Uchiha is staring at him, but he chooses not to look at him.

"Team eight will be Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino."

Naruto looks to his side, looking at the now identified Aburame with an awed look on his face. "Eh… you're an Aburame, Shino-san?"

"Yes I am, is there any problem with it?" he asks in a stoic manner.

"No, it's just that this is the first time I've seen an Aburame since you don't normally see them out in the streets."

"That is indeed true. We prefer to keep to ourselves and study our colony of insects, they are important after all."

The Aburame, Hyuuga and Inuzuka mix is a perfect combination for a scout team… the Hyuuga has the eyes, the Inuzuka has the nose and the Aburame has both and the brain.

"Team nine will be Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji." A series of complaints are delivered from the Yamanaka's mouth, while the Nara is more subtle in voicing his. The Akimichi is eating his bags of potato chips in a carefree manner, completely unbothered since his best friend is on the same team as him.

Naruto eyes the combination of Ino-Shika-Cho. It looks like they are doing it again this year, after a very long time… the Nara has the brains, the Yamanaka can provide cover by intruding on an enemy's mind and the Akimichi does not mind to get all physical, another balanced team. So, what about his? He doesn't know much about his team, more on the girl especially. He got a gist of what the Uchiha is good at; everything. He nearly snorts at the conclusion he reached.

After a while, Iruka is finally finished with the team announcement. Everyone is grouped and well acquainted, except for him. He hears the sound of chair dragging along the floor and it seems that Shino has stand. "I have to join my team Naruto-san, good luck to you and yours."

Naruto waves a friendly wave in return, sitting on his chair with a thoughtful look, he begins to think. The Uchiha might be a jack-ass of all trades, but his strong point has to be ninjutsu. The girl… he could barely feel chakra in her, but her control over it will be easier than his or the Uchiha's. She's a good medic material, let's just hope that she won't let something hinder her advances in becoming a ninja. Pulling himself up from his chair, he thinks that it's a good time to properly meet his teammates.

"Yo." He cheerfully greets the two, flicking a two fingered salute at them.

The pink haired and raven haired genins blink owlishly at him. Naruto smiles at them, taking a seat on Sasuke's right since Ino is no longer here. "Name's Uzumaki Naruto, you can call me whatever you want though."

Sasuke takes a moment to consider his appearance before nodding. "It's nice to be of acquaintance, Uzumaki." He says politely and distantly. The Uchiha is confused when the blonde shakes his head in negative, making him think that he is doing a wrong thing.

"No, not 'acquaintance' but teammates. Team~mates!" the blonde says, stretching the last word. "We won't just be acquaintance if we're going to be working out there in the field. Acquaintances don't risk their lives for each-other."

The Uchiha blinks. He is conflicted at the thought of the blonde being so friendly and forward, but he is not bothered with it. Sasuke nods again, this time longer than before. "Sure, teammates."

Seeing the two boys already getting along well, Sakura felt left out. It must be nice being boys… being able to get along so quickly and well. She tries to speak, but her words won't come out. Maybe it's because she's in the presence of a stranger. Thankfully for her, she doesn't have to speak.

"You're Haruno Sakura, yeah?" Sakura's head snaps upward; he notices her. "What a nice name, unlike mine which is literally a ramen topping."

At this, Sakura laughs a little. "Thank you, Naruto-san…"

He waves at her dismissively. "Don't mention it… and don't add that honorific, please, it makes me feel old."

Sakura's eyebrow is raised. "Aren't you older than us, at least by a year?"

Naruto shakes his head in negative. "Nope, I'm thirteen, just like everyone here. I just have my growth spurt earlier than most kids, probably why I'm so tall. But it's fine, I'm used to be mistaken as someone older." His eyes find themselves focused on her hair, unable to keep himself from staring. "You have a very pretty hair, Sakura. It fits your name, Sakura, you know?"

"You think so?" The girl smiles in response. "And thanks."

As Sasuke watches his two teammates conversing between each other, he diverts his focus to the sky outside of the windows. Something tells him that he is going to feel annoyed real quick.

And he's right.

* * *

"Our sensei is probably not the most diligent of men out there…"

Naruto shakes his head, unable to keep himself from sitting down, he is standing while tapping on the floor with the tip of his sandals. His shoulders slump; sagging lowly. "Maaaan… this is getting boring real quick." Whoever this asshole is, he or she is going to regret it.

Sakura is just the same as the blonde, though she is far more open on her annoyance than him. "Boring? Forget boring, this is annoying. I can't believe that our sensei is late for this important day! It's already five!" she points at the clock on the wall on the other side of the room.

Sasuke has to admit, his teammates are right. Is this sensei taking his or her job seriously? If not, then they have the right to file in complaints to the Hokage about this. He glances around. The three of them are the only ones left in the room; Iruka told them to lock the doors and return the key to the faculty office once their sensei have arrived. He is starting to get impatient. This is definitely not normal, no humans could be as tardy as this… right?

"Oi, Sasuke, right?" a call from the other boy in the room brings him out of his musings. His reply to the blonde is only a bat of eyelash.

"So to make things easier for the future, I'd like to know a few things. What's your strong point? How good are you in it and if you want, can you overcome the things that you aren't good at?" are the questions asked by the blonde.

Sasuke looks at Naruto weirdly. This person must've never met an Uchiha before.

"Uh… Naruto-san, Sasuke-kun graduated as the rookie of the year so-"

"It doesn't mean a thing in the field." Is Naruto's cut to Sakura's statement. "The title 'rookie of the year' is just a title given to graduates who scores very well in their qualification exams, it doesn't mean a thing in the battlefield. Your enemies won't even laugh at that title. Trust me."

Sasuke narrows his eyes. "What's it to you, Uzumaki?"

Naruto raises both of his eyebrows. "Nothing, I just want to know what you're good at and if you're trying to improve on the areas you aren't good at. That's all."

Seemingly harmless… but what he said before has some truth in it. Sasuke isn't dumb to not know that his title 'rookie of the year' doesn't mean jack shit during missions. But it is not that remark that makes him glare at the other boy, but his questions. Just how detailed is he in asking questions? Is Naruto an observant person, if so, how observant is he? Shrugging his shoulders, Sasuke decides to humor him.

"I'm good in ninjutsu, my chakra reserves is quite large too. My taijutsu is above average, but my reflex needs work. And the only thing I'm trying to improve at is chakra control." Sasuke answers with a deep tone. This is the truth for him. His reserves are large for someone his age, making them harder to control.

"So you have a large reserve too eh? Same like me… though I don't use them for ninjutsu." Wait, what? Naruto takes notice of the surprised look on his face. "Oh don't be so surprised, don't tell me that you don't know that chakra can be used for other things other than flashy jutsus?"

"I know…"

"Then you know." The blonde simply says. "I use it to give… enhancements to my body. Making them tougher, stronger and faster; if we have time to practice or spar or anything like that, I'll show you."

Interest is spiking up inside his stomach, Sasuke could feel it. He nods in agreement, but says nothing else. Then he remembered something important during the blonde's introduction. He was recommended by the Hokage himself. If that isn't prestige then he knows nothing else. There must be something special about Uzumaki Naruto, all that Sasuke can do now is wait patiently.

The sound of something sliding open brings everyone's attention to the max. All three youths turn the direction of their head to the door and they are greeted by the sight of a person. Said person is tall, taller than Naruto even and is definitely their sensei. From the uniform he is wearing, it is easy to tell that he is above genin level. He is also reading a suspicious orange covered book intently and the lower part of his face is covered with a mask, and left eye covered with his forehead protector leaving only one eye visible. The most eye catching and iconic feature about him is definitely his gravity defying grey hair; seriously, it's either he spends way too much time in the bathroom or he has one hell of a bed head.

This mysterious adult takes a moment off his books, taking a glimpse of the three genins in front of him. "My first impression of you guys is… boring." He ends in a flat note. "Meet me on the roof." And just like that, he disappears into white smoke; leaving three stunned genins with confused expressions on their faces.

"Ah… so it's him…" Sakura and Sasuke turns to Naruto. Said blonde gives them a bitter look. "Well guys, it's official, we'll have to come three hours later than our initial time since we got Hatake Kakashi as our instructor."

He never thought that they would get the Hatake Kakashi as their sensei. Aside from his reputation for being a tardy fellow and someone who openly reads porn in public, the man deserves whatever bounty he's got on his head. He is one of the most famous Jonins out there that Naruto knows by name, along with some few, but none has the reputation like Hatake Kakashi. Being famed not only as the man who could copy all kinds of ninjutsu, he's also a product of Konoha's child prodigy during his childhood. Making Jonin at the age of thirteen… if that is not skill then no one knows what it is.

All four of them are on the roof, with Kakashi being the earliest one here. Naruto walks in with his hands inside his pants pockets, before taking a seat on the empty bench just opposite of Kakashi. His gesture is followed by his teammates, who sit on the empty spaces next to him respectively. Sasuke finds peace knowing that there is someone sitting in between him and the girl, just for safety. Sakura, however, is content at the fact that she could be near with Sasuke. A nearby crow flies over the academy's roof, cawing into the evening sky. The sky itself is like a sea of orange with tints of purple here and there, the clouds are like white cotton candies floating freely and slowly.

At this time of the day, Saren is probably enjoying her ice cream pint while watching her favorite TV show. He used to visit her from time to time a few years ago, so he knows the girl's routine more or less. Speaking of knowing, this is probably the part where they do proper introductions, but he is waiting on Kakashi to say something about it.

And, as if someone up there reads his mind, Kakashi closes his book shut and discarding it into his utility pouch. He gives the three teenagers one last look with his one eye. "Okay, now that we are here… let's tell a little bit about ourselves. Tell me about your likes, your dislikes, your hobbies and your dream or dreams for the future." The grey haired man says with a dull tone, boring all three of them already. "Let's start with pinkie."

Sakura shows a twitch at being called pinkie, she raises a shaky hands for permission. "Sensei, wouldn't it be better if you start first?"

Kakashi's lone eye blinks two times. The man shrugs. "Fine then. My name is Hatake Kakashi, I have many likes and many dislikes. You three are too young to know my hobbies and my dream for the future is just as invincible as my face." He says in a deadpanned tone. "Okay pinkie, you go next."

Sakura's forehead twitches again at being called pinkie, is this person looking for trouble with her? Regardless, he is her jonin sensei, and he has just asked her to introduce herself. "My name is Haruno Sakura, my likes are…" her jade like eyes trail over to the raven haired boy. "My dislikes are Ino-pig and noisy people like that dog-boy Kiba." Her face shows extreme displeasure at mentioning the two names. "My hobbies are baking and reading, I enjoy doing tea ceremony too." She makes a thoughtful expression. "And my dreams for the future… I haven't thought about it."

The only jonin and adult in the group nods, accepting her answer. "Okay, next is the prince." Naruto chuckles at the name he used to call the Uchiha, but apparently said Uchiha does not find it as amusing as he does.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. My likes are training and practicing in my clan's compound. I dislike people who give up easily and natural born losers. I don't have a particular hobby aside from training and my dream for the future is to become a great ninja like my brother." He finishes with an uncaring grunt.

If Kakashi is surprised, then he is hiding it well. Though it is to be expected from Sasuke… "Finally, we have the blondie."

Both Sasuke and Sakura perks up at this, after all, they do not know anything about the blonde so this might be the only chance that they will ever get to hear something about him.

Naruto smiles, relaxing himself. "Well where should I start… my name's Uzumaki Naruto and I am a resident charmer, if you haven't noticed. I like talking, making people laugh and smile and training my body's condition. I dislike people who judge others before even knowing who they are, and real jerks like some of the people I know. My hobbies are training, gardening, causing mischief in the streets as well as doing algebra while working out. My dreams for the future… maybe I'll think about it some other time, I'm still not sure on what I want to be."

"Not even a great shinobi?"

"Not even a great shinobi." Naruto ends on a final note.

Kakshi clasps his hands together, gathering their attention. "Alright, that's all for today guys. Tomorrow, however, is when your real exam begins." This shocks Naruto as much as it shocks both Sasuke and Sakura. "What, don't tell me that you guys thought you would automatically become ninjas after you've done all of that basic stuff from the academy. No, you're not; not even if you're to fight with three ANBUs in a row and somehow managed to beat them."

Naruto catches the small and subtle look that Kakashi sent him. 'Ah… so he was present the other day.'

"So meet me at training ground seven at seven tomorrow, don't eat breakfast or else you might just let them out from your guts. See ya'." With a final wave, the man disappears into a cloud of white smoke once again, leaving behind three confused genins.

Naruto stands, stretching his arms upwards into the air. "Man, what a sensei we got, huh?"

"He could at least try to come earlier…" Sakura voices her thoughts.

The raven haired Uchiha scoffs, showing a permanent scowl on his face. "Something tells me that that'll be an impossible thing to do…"

Naruto hums in agreement. Looking at the sun, it's already quite late. "Welp, time for me to leave, see ya' later guys!"

"Wait, Naruto-san!" Sakura's voice stops him from jumping off the railings of the roof and to the ground down below. He turns to look at her, making her redden at the sudden attention. "Uh… we could grab dinner together, if that's alright with you?"

Naruto makes a thinking expression. Then he shakes his head in negative, an apologetic look appearing on his face. "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't really eat during this hour, so I'll just head back home. Maybe next time?"

Giving the blonde a nod of understanding, Sakura replies positively. "Okay."

Naruto gives his two teammates a final wave and he decides to take the stairs in the end. Now only the two of them…

"No, I need to go back home. Father is expecting me."

Damn it!

* * *

 **And here is the third chapter. I think I know my limits guys, I can only write about 7K worth of content per chapter. Maybe future updates will have more words but that is still undecided. Oh and on a more important note, I finally have a beta. His name is Uzukage-of-the-storm/previously known as darkblob72, and he is the one who beta'd this chapter. I find it nice of him to help a complete stranger like me with something as simple as this, but we all know that I'm really trying to improve here, so you guys can thank darkblob72 for the improvement on grammar and less spelling errors.**

 **On another note… I know that this might seem a little early for me but I am thinking of doing a crossover Naruto series. But there's one huge problem, I don't know what to group Naruto with. Tell me what you would like to see me crossover by PMs since the reviewer's section is limited only to those who have criticisms or complaints. That's all for now.**

 **This is Kore wa Watashi, signing out.**


	4. The real test is here!

"Hmm… I wonder what set should I get for the exam later…" A certain whiskered blonde mutters to himself as he walks through town with a thoughtful expression on his face. As one can see, he is pondering at a very important dilemma at the moment. Since he will be having his 'real' genin exam later today, he thought that it would probably be a good idea to shop for extra equipment and gears.

It's still rather early in the morning, about six or seven if he checked his clock the right way. However, he won't have to worry about being greeted with closed stores even at this time of the day. Most of the stores that sells or provides shinobi equipment in Konoha is open twenty four/seven, meaning that they're open all day er' day. But, his dilemma is not about the state of the store, it's about what should he purchase on said store.

Rubbing the bulge of his money pouch inside his pocket, Naruto frowns. Let it be known that he is not very keen on spending money. One might say that he's a cheapskate, but he's just being a careful spender that's all. Unlike most people, he doesn't really shop much; which explains his lack of wardrobe attire and other lack of necessary items for his apartment. Splurging money isn't just his thing, but if he really needs it, he'll give it a good thinking before purchasing. Besides, getting money with the kind of work he used to get isn't exactly worth doing; though it is quick to make a buck.

However, the boy is in a good mood today. With all the money he'd won from the tournament fights, when he was still doing them, he should be able to get himself some exquisite ninja gears.

"Oh yeah, someone gave me a brochure the other day!" he pats his vest's pockets, fumbling through it to grab the item he has just remembered. "Yup, it's still here." He grins. "Lessee' here… ah yeah, Hagane's weapon shop, _providing the right tools for the right fools_. Heh, I have to meet the owner." He re-pockets the brochure/pamphlet again. "That girl that gave me the pamphlet said that their shop is nearby… ah, there it is." He sweats drops at what he's seeing.

Out of all the common looking establishments that are lined up alongside the main road, Hagane's weapon shop is the only eye catching one. Why? Because, apparently, big billboards with the word 'WEAPONS' written in big bold letters are eye catching. "Well, at least I've saved a lot of time." And by time he means effort, and by effort he means none at all.

As soon as he reaches the front door to the shop, he opens it with a push. "Hello? Is this place open?"

"What do you think punk?" is his reply.

Naruto is greeted by a tall, burly and muscular man. Seriously, if he's wearing a fur coat instead of that dirty and ashen tunic and apron, he'd mistaken him for a steroid induced bear. Honestly speaking, Naruto is clueless as to why he's suddenly feeling respect for the man. Maybe it's because of the sheer aura of manly manliness that is oozing out from every single pore of his very being, or is it the fact that he's wearing his apron _before_ wearing his tunic? He does not know, but regardless, much respect to him.

Naruto gives the man a lazy salute, walking inside the store. "Just makin' sure." He takes a look around him. For a shinobi equipment store… this place sells a lot of barbaric and non-shinobi weapons. There are warhammers, waraxes, broadswords, tachis, tantos and even several bows and arrows. The blonde whistles at the display around him. "Quite a shop you've got here, you made all of them?"

The man grunts almost in an irritated manner. He crosses his giant arms over his chest, eyes observing the boy who is currently observing his store. "What do you think?"

Naruto ignores the man; he approaches a rack of unnamed and unbranded swords. These must be the least popular ones; forget these ones… he never thought that there would actually be someone who sells broadswords in a shinobi village. He picks one of them by the handle, examining it for anything out of the ordinary. The steel is pretty well folded, one can see from the pattern on the blade alone. And it seems that the pommel is made from a very strong rock, interesting. He flips the sword around, analyzing in an even greater detail. The leather grip is fine, but not the best there is. Steel condition is good; guy's good at heat treating his swords. Hehehe that actually sounds dirty.

"Are you done playing with my sword, kid?"

Okay, now that's just wrong. Very _wrong_.

The man, who is now very much bothered by the boy's presence in his store, decides that it is best to approach him for some questions. "If you're here to browse and leave without buying anything, then you've come to the wrong shop. When you enter here and you touched something, you leave here with something."

For a brief moment, Naruto lifts his eyes from the sword. "Is that why the slogan for your store is 'providing the right tools, for the right fools'? _'Fools'_ , because you'd be a foolish person to leave this shop without buying anything?"

The man smirks. Even though it's a scary one, it's still a smirk. "Heh, you're smart, I'll give you that." The tall man walks away. "My name's Dante, I see that my daughter gave you one of our advertising pamphlet."

"Short, twin buns and got a very unhealthy obsession with blades?" Naruto asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Yup, definitely Tenten." The man nods. "Anyway, you won't find what you'll like over there. C'mere, I'll bring out my finest creations."

The young blonde follows the man to the counter. He waits while the owner of the place brings out whatever he has for him to purchase. The older male returns not long later with a bucket slung on his back, a bucket which is filled with different types of weapons from swords to axes. Again, Naruto finds himself whistling. Dante grunts when he sloppily drops the bucket on the counter. "Take a look at them and tell me when you've find something interesting."

Naruto is more than pleasured. However, sadly, after browsing and analyzing every single item Dante has to offer, nothing strikes his fancy. Maybe that's because he's not looking for weapons in the first place. The whiskered teen shakes his head, releasing a disappointed sigh. "Sorry, nothing."

Dante shrugs. "Then suit yourself."

Naruto responds with a similar shrug. He is about to turn and leave until something catches his attention. "Hey, what's that?"

Dante looks at the item Naruto is referring. "Those? Those are just studded gloves." Dante sees the brief gleam within the blonde's blue eyes. "Don't tell me that you actually prefer those over these, kid?"

Naruto nods. "I do, in fact, I'm even thinking of buying it. Problem?"

Dante shakes his head repeatedly. "Kids these days…" he walks over to the glass display that encases the black leather studded gloves and opens it letting a small click to be heard. He places the gloves on the counter, next to the pile of swords and weapons. "There. Don't know what you'll do with these though… you strike me as a person who'd charge with fists raised, is that it?"

Unsurprisingly, the boy nods. "Yeah, I prefer getting my opponent's face and my fists bloody… from my opponent's blood." He picks up one of the gloves, putting it on. And, yeah, it literally fits like a glove. The studs are arranged neatly on the glove's upper surface; they form a square pattern, since they are placed on the middle most part, directly above the palms. Aside from that easily seen feature, nothing more seems unordinary about it.

"I'll take these as well as your finest set of kunais and shurikens."

"Do you want a polishing kit with that?"

"No."

"Alright." Dante leaves to grab the kunai and shuriken sets before returning. "Here you go. The gloves and these will cost exactly 1300 Ryo."

Naruto pulls out his wallet. It's fair price. "Wait a minute... okay, here."

Dante receives the money. "It's a pleasure doing business with you kid."

"You too old man." And with that, Naruto leaves as a satisfied customer.

Something tells him that he'll be seeing the kid again in the future…

Or maybe next week, depending on how he'll use those things.

* * *

"You shouldn't tire yourself, Sasuke. If I remember, you will have the last test with your jonin sensei, right?"

Sasuke stops the series of hand seals that he is in the middle of doing when he hears his brother's voice from the sidelines. He checks the sky for time, and true, it's still early in the morning. If his blonde teammate is right about their sensei, then he will have to leave home much later than the destined time. Sasuke drops his arms, letting out a sigh. He walks over to his brother who is standing and observing him.

"Hn. I was planning to stop anyway."

If Itachi is known to be a little bit expressive, then he might have just rolled his eyes at his brother's lame excuse. "Regardless, you've been training ever since four this morning, mother is getting worried."

"I know my way back home, brother." Sasuke crosses his arms, a small frown appearing on his features. "If mother is worried about me not using the compound's training ground, then I'll tell her that I want some privacy in my training starting from now on."

Itachi does nothing other than blinking. "Very well. But now, let's return."

Currently, the two Uchihas are not inside the Uchiha clan's training ground which is located inside their compound. Sasuke woke up early in the morning to head over to the nearest training ground outside of Konoha, the one that is available for any registered shinobi to use regardless of rank. The sky is beginning to get bright, the sun in Konoha is always early, and it's even earlier in Suna. The younger of the two grabs his pack which he has left sitting under the shade of a nearby tree. The destruction around him is minimal, mostly the scorching of grass and several scratch marks on the trees. Sasuke would normally train longer, but he decides not to. The reason for this is obvious; he has a test later today and his mother is worried. Those two reasons are more than enough to make him return.

The walk back to the main gates of Konoha is not that long, but they do so without conversation, causing the trip to be even quicker. From here to the compound is another mile walk, since most of the shinobi clan's compounds tend to be placed on the southern part of the wall that surrounds Konoha. There is a reason for this, actually. Hi no Kuni's north is facing toward the direction of Mizu no Kuni, which means that Konoha's southern wall is an open back to the neighboring minor countries like Kawa no Kuni and also quite a number of minor villages such as Takigakure, Tanigakure, Kusagakure, Ishigakure and also a major village Sunagakure. If one of these villages are to attack Konoha, then the shinobi clans such as the Uchihas, Hyuugas and Inuzukas so on and so forth, will be the firsts ones to respond to the attack.

A nice strategy, but that does not mean that it's solid.

He could go over it in a detailed fashion but it seems that time has beaten him on doing so. He has arrived at the Uchiha clan's compound's main gates. It's made out of wood, and since no one is present in guard duty, there's no one to greet them. His brother is the first one to enter his clan's compound, Sasuke watches the walking form of his older brother with a pensive look on his face. His drive in becoming a ninja is the desire to become like his brother; an accomplished ninja who everyone adores. Itachi is a born genius, while he, he needs to take the long road up there.

After he finishes his musing, Sasuke enters the compound. And not long later, the two Uchiha brothers arrive at their house; the main house. Unlike the Hyuuga clan, the Uchiha is not that strict when it comes to positions. There is only one leader, appointed by the clan's advisors. As simple as that. But their stand in hierarchy is not as iron fisted or strict as the Hyuuga's, both the main and branch members live in the same area of the compound, no walls or over the top rules to separate them.

The sound of the door sliding open, courtesy of Itachi, causes a familiar voice that both boy's know all too well to be heard coming from the direction of the kitchen. "Sasuke, Itachi; is that you two?"

"It is us, mother." Itachi replies monotonously while taking off his sandals at the same time. He sees his little brother doing the same, but he leaves first for the living room to greet their father.

"Sasuke, you didn't tell me that you're going to train so early in the morning. What's the matter sweetie?" Sasuke cringes as he hears his mother's voice asking a question that is both predictable and inevitable at the same time.

"I was in a hurry, mother." Sasuke walks to the living room to join his brother and their father. And, as usual, his father is sitting on the tatami matted floor while reading a newspaper and smoking from a wooden pipe. Sasuke, having been lectured of showing proper manners to his elders, sits seiza style near the entrance to the room. "Father." The young teen says curtly.

Fugaku folds his paper, giving his youngest son a look. "Sasuke, you didn't tell me or your mother you were going to wake up early today, why is that son?"

"I needed to train father, and I was in a hurry since I will be having my final genin test today at a later hour." Fugaku raises an eyebrow at Sasuke's reason, finding it off.

"But you could always use the training ground in our compound." He states as a matter of fact.

"Yes, however, I require privacy and space to train." Sasuke grips the hem of his shorts tightly. He knows what his father will say.

The Uchiha clan leader shrugs both of his shoulders, before resuming on his paper. "Fine then. Just make sure that your training bear results; you should be more like your brother."

There it is.

He uttered those seven taboo words.

Sasuke hates it; no, he completely loathes it when people compare him to others, his brother especially. He knows that Itachi is freaking genius, he knows that he is a perfect shinobi but they don't have to shove it to his face goddamit; he fucking knows it! Sasuke hides whatever expression he might just be showing without the right amount of restrain in him. He simply nods, not saying anything.

The sound of footsteps draws nearer. Uchiha Mikoto emerges from the door to the entrance, bringing in a tray filled with a traditional breakfast. A bowl of rice for each of them, seared salted salmon as a side dish and a steaming bowl of miso soup to finish it off. Oh, and Sasuke's rice has a tomato on top. Breakfast will begin and it will probably be accompanied by the usual conversation with his brother being the main topic.

"So Itachi… how goes the ANBU?"

Yes. He's right.

"It's alright father. Everything is going well, but we did receive problems before." Itachi replies before grabbing a bite of his salmon.

Sasuke stops halfway from putting the rice grains which he has gathered on his chopsticks into his mouth.

"…Don't tell me, it's the Uzumaki again?"

Wait, wut?

"Yes, it is Naruto-kun, father. But it's taken care of, do not worry."

Sasuke nearly jumps from his seat when he hears his father laugh. It's not a boisterous laugh, but it is still a laugh. Uchiha Fugaku just freaking laughed people! "That boy… he caused problems here and there, I've been wondering if Hiruzen could keep a leash on him…" the Uchiha clan head shakes his head. "I heard that he stole all of the ANBU's gears and equipment, is that right, son?"

"Indeed it is, father. Sadly to say, our ANBU these days are not efficient enough to keep up with Naruto-kun. Even I have trouble getting the boy."

Sasuke spits his salmon out.

"Sasuke sweetie! Are you okay?"

Sasuke accepts the warm tea his mother gives him.

"I was thinking of drafting him into ANBU…"

Sasuke spits tea from his mouth.

"Let me guess, Hiruzen says otherwise?"

Sasuke wipes his mouth with a napkin his mother has handed over to him.

"…Indeed. A shame, really."

And the boy dirties the napkin his mother hands him when he accidentally drops it into his soup.

"What about you, Sasuke, who is on your squad?"

After cleaning the mess with another set of napkin which is given to him by his mother, Sasuke answers his father with a twitching eye. "There is Haruno Sakura, a total bookworm who comes from a normal civilian family. And… Uzumaki Naruto." There's no describing the blonde… simply because he knows nothing about him.

Itachi raises an eyebrow, stopping halfway from grabbing a piece of his salmon. "Naruto-kun is?"

Sasuke gives his brother a hostile look. He does not know whether Itachi is a clueless person or he's messing with him, but that question has got to be intentional. "Yes, yes he is."

Fugaku nods his head repeatedly. "Good, good. You need to show a good performance around him, Sasuke. Perhaps, you might even learn a thing or two from him."

Oh he did not just say tha—

And that is how the Uchihas start their morning.

* * *

Haruno Sakura hates it when she wakes up with a very messy bedhead. But then, it occurred to her, don't all girls hate it when they have bedhead? Regardless, she hates it and that's that. Waking up is one thing… and keeping yourself up is another thing. She blames her lazy excuse of a father for this attitude, she swears… the guy is probably related to the Naras or something. Anyway, her first objective in the morning is to clean up the mess which she is by grooming herself in front of the mirror. There are also the light make ups that she uses; being a girl is so hard… and no, she is not speaking only for herself.

She figures that she would eventually wake up earlier than usual for today, the reason being today's exam. Her blonde teammate told her that their sensei will be late and after experiencing her sensei's lateness, she cannot help but trust the blonde's words. For now, she'll just relax and enjoy her morning inside her house; maybe she'll go out, who knows? Still… her thinking of her teammates gets her thinking about a particular boy in her team. And for once, it's not Uchiha Sasuke.

Just who is Uzumaki Naruto? Despite him looking order physically, he admitted that he is indeed the same age as them. Seeing as how Kakashi did not react at him being in the same squad as them, this thought is clearly true. But there are just too many things fishy about the boy. Questons like… who is he, why did the Hokage recommend him specifically, did he really went through the same exams as them and much more. If her memory about the regulation and standard protocols about shinobi is still fresh in her mind… then there is no such things as the Hokage recommending an unnamed person to the shinobi academy, especially when it's graduation day.

"Gaaah!" the pink haired girl runs her brush down too fast, causing her to scream in brief pain. "Ow…" looks like what they said is true, curiosity kills the cat… or in her case, ruins her hair. This is no use… but actually… the most important question is…

Why is she interested in the Uzumaki?

Sakura asks this to herself ever since she returned home from yesterday. At first glance, he looks nice. He acts nice and he's good looking too. Sure, he gives off the feeling of a rather punkish delinquent but even that has its own charms to it. Maybe it's not his looks or his attitude that draws her interest to him… maybe it's the fact that she knows nothing about him, the mystery that shrouds his true identity and status? That could be it… after all, that is how she got interested in Sasuke in the first place.

When she saw Sasuke for the very first time, he strikes her as a cool and mysterious prince who is cold hearted and is just waiting for a maiden's charm to warms his ice of heart. However… when she compares to Naruto, who she could say is the exact opposite of Sasuke, Sasuke is… more unnoticeable. Naruto is loud, he's easy to approach and friendly. Even if they have only shared a few words during their time waiting for Kakashi, she gets the feeling that he is the type of guy that you could rely on without thinking.

Sakura grips the handle of her brush tighter than ever, she feels troubled at the way she has been pondering aimlessly until now. "Mouu… this is getting nowhere!" the girl brashly places her brush back to its drawer, fixing her forehead protector to its place before opening her wardrobe to dress herself. After she is done, she opens the door to her room and goes downstairs.

She, Haruno Sakura, enjoys solving mystery. And to her, Uzumaki Naruto is a Rubik's cube.

"Honey, does this dress make me look fat?"

"…You ARE fat, darling."

"I can dream, Satoshi!"

Yeah, the Haruno household is also a lively place.

* * *

The sky is orange, signaling the approach of night. The clouds are almost nonexistent and it's just the perfect time to go out there and enjoy your evening with your family. However, that is not the case with three unfortunate teenagers.

"Oi Uchiha, don't touch me in weird places dammit!"

"Tch! It's not like I wanted to you damned idiot!"

"Guys, stop fumbling around like that, you'll make me we—I – I mean, you'll get even more tangled!"

Naruto and Sasuke now officially hate one Hatake Kakashi. Sure, he is a tardy-ass person, but that is nothing compared to his trolling which he has dubbed as physical training. When they meet up here, Kakashi told them that they will be doing a taijutsu test to determine their skills in said field. But, he did not say that they should fight each other, so the two boys did, but only for a while. While Sasuke and Naruto were fighting, Sakura was left watching after two handsome boys slamming their body parts against each other; Kakashi took the chance to prepare them for some impromptu lessons. And by impromptu he meant surprise. And by lesson he meant trolling.

One thing leads to another and…

Both boys are now tangled upside down a tree. Covered in sticky gel.

"Goddamit Sakura stop taking pictures you vulgar woman!" Surprisingly, SasUKE **(A/N: this is intended.)** snaps first. He is desperate and he knows that Naruto is too. He tried everything to escape from this humiliating and compromising position. The gel digs deep into his clothing, rendering them thinner than before. Coupled with the fact that he is tied from waist up with another boy who wears too less clothing on his body, this is hell.

"Goddammit Uchiha, stop your bitching!" Naruto shouts. "And stop moving around dammit, I'm trying to get the both of us out from here!"

"How?!" the Uchiha screams so desperately.

Naruto, after feeling less movement from the Uchiha, acts immediately. He manages to get the knot on his legs loose earlier, so it is easier to work from there. He wiggles his legs, getting the sandals off from his feet. And within the gaps of his toes is a small razor. With sharp precision, Naruto flicks the small razor into the air, slicing through the rope that keeps them dangling from the tree. They both lands down with a loud thump, but it do not stop there. The razor falls back thanks to gravity and it, as impossible as it may be, slices through the smallest of gaps in the knots that is keeping Naruto and Sasuke tied.

"I got it! My hands are free!" Naruto shouts, feeling relieved. Sasuke is relieved too, but he's not showing it. The blonde takes out the freshly bought kunai he has just purchased earlier this morning. Both boys are finally free from the ropes but are still sticky all over. "Finally!"

"Guys are you two okay?" Sakura comes running down at both boys.

"Yeah no thanks to you!" Both Naruto and Sasuke scream in sync. "And wipe that nosebleed from your nose!"

Kakashi, who is watching over his three little ducklings from a nearby tree top, is wondering if they will make good ninjas at all. Well, maybe he went too far with the gel and ropes… but it's necessary. Just as the grey haired jonin is about to resume reading his book, a cry interrupts him, rudely.

"THERE!"

A kunai nearly missed his head, if it is not for the fact that Kakashi was paying attention, he would've needed to spend all of his hard earned money for plastic surgery. Naruto managed to identify him and the boy's first course of action is throw a kunai at Kakashi's position. Sasuke is surprised to see the blonde managing to figure out where Kakashi has been hiding this whole time. Sakura is no better, she is just as surprised as Sasuke.

"Oi, Sasuke, Sakura! Don't just stand there, get'im!"

Both are snapped out from their surprise by Naruto's sudden instruction. Sasuke is the first to react, his hands quickly going through a series of basic hand seals. Kakashi is a little bit impressed when a decent sized fireball comes rushing at him from the Uchiha's mouth. As a jonin and someone who has been through worse in his life, this is nothing, really. The grey haired instructor evades the one directional fireball as if it was nothing, the aftermath from that is a burnt tree bark to a random tree behind him. Kakashi, however, has to dodge back when he sees a flash of blur approaching him in a speed he does not know the owner possess. Well, maybe he did—considering he did watch the blonde's display of skills the other day—but maybe he's just surprised.

Naruto is onto him immediately. He is already throwing punches at him, to which he responds by dodging all of them since he has no plans on getting his bones broken or dislocated somewhere ugly. Kakashi observed how the boy fights the other day; he secretly memorized all of his footwork, timing, attack pattern and even breathing pattern. Believe it or not, the last one is actually important. Most taijutsu master—including one named Maito Guy—are able to perform what they are doing due to constant breathing practice. Basically, monks are very deadly at close range. Naruto is a stamina freak, meaning that he is able to throw in so many punches without even breathing; this is another problem for Kakashi. With the pace the blonde is going through now, he is not giving him any room for a counter attack. Kakashi is tempted to use ninjutsu, but he wants to see what the boy is really capable off.

His punches are not only fast, but they are also accurate. All of his strikes are aimed at his vital spots; like the neck, solar plexus, hips, chin and he even tried to knee him right in the baby maker. It is thanks to his hard trained reflex that Kakashi is able to evade all of the boy's punches. But even he too knows that he is holding back.

"…" Sasuke is speechless. He's baffled. What he is seeing here is not something he sees every day. Here, what he's seeing, is a freshly graduated academy student who did not even learn anything from said academy and he is currently going head to head with a veteran jonin in taijutsu. Sasuke is conflicted on whether he should feel amazed or jealous at the boy's hidden skills. Maybe both. Now he knows why Itachi is trying to get the blonde into ANBU.

"W – Wow… Naruto is so skilled…" Sakura is more open in her surprise. She is wide eyed and mouth hanging open like a bottle. Is this Naruto's real skill? She never thought that he would be this… skilled. That's a jonin he's going head to head with. Sure, Kakashi-sensei is probably holding back but what are the chances of a genin being able to stand on even ground against a jonin in a taijutsu match?

The pistons of Naruto's punches is deadly, not to mention with his condition—which Kakashi still hasn't quite figure out—being his main arsenal and fortress at the same time, he's freaking invincible. His stamina too, but he can't keep going on like this forever. He needs help. While engaging Kakashi, the blonde shouts. "Oi you two love birds! I said help me dammit!"

Kakashi secretly smiles at the scene. Maybe they do have a chance in passing his exam after all.

Not long later, Kakashi finds himself engaging Naruto in a one on one taijutsu fight while dodging fireballs from Sasuke. Sakura is out of sight, making things all the more interesting. 'Good work Naruto, you've shown that you have great control over your team and the field. But what will happen if your enemy could do the same?' performing a seal-less technique, a fume of white smoke bursts into existence behind the blonde. Apparently, Naruto is more like a boxer instead of a martial artist when fighting melee. The blonde sees the interference coming and he drops his body to a low form, then he jumps back with a flying uppercut to intercept Kakashi's freshly created clone. Needless to say, Kakashi has to waste more energy and chakra to create more and more clones to keep the blonde occupied. Five should be enough, now… let's see how Sasuke will do.

The jonin is instantly behind the black haired Uchiha, who fortunately sensed him coming from pure luck. Sasuke is lucky that he tripped over his own feet to dodged Kakashi's harmful swipe. But from there, things are starting to get text booked. While Naruto is an active fighter, Sasuke isn't. He is more prone to use his kunais and tools to his advantage, a very excellent strategy considering that Kakashi is currently bare handed. But not for long. Shortly later, both are engaging each other with sparks flying from each other's kunais. Sasuke is not having an easy time. Kakashi knows his exact movements, as if he has the sharingan himself. The man knows when and where he will strike and it is frustrating the way he is able to slap away his well-timed strikes with ease. Sasuke jumps back, drawing distance between him and the scarecrow.

" **Katon: Grand Fireball!"** a bigger and way much hotter fireball launches itself towards Kakashi, who happens to be readying kunais for him to throw. Seeing the fireball makes Kakashi abandon his kunais for a jutsu of his own.

" **Suiton: Water Sphere!"** water particles from the air are used to form a cannon ball sized orb that flies against Sasuke's fireball at lightning speed. It crashes to the orb of fire, forming a sudden warm steam to erupt, blinding both parties.

With vision hindered, Kakashi has to rely on his other senses, mainly his ears. He hears something clicking from his right, and he dodges, figuring that it would be Sasuke. But how wrong he is… it's Naruto, ready for another round. The blonde jumps, delivering a spinning whirlwind kick that dispels the steam from the area completely. Sasuke is next to his side, looking tired, but still up for more.

"Sensei, did you honestly think that five Kage Bunshins are enough to handle me?" Naruto shakes his hands, arms crossed while clicking his tongue in a mocking manner. "You're insulting me sensei… which is why it's time for me to get serious." Both Sasuke and Kakashi raise an eyebrow at this. Naruto takes something out from his back pocket, revealing it to be a pair of gloves… with metal studs on the surface. Kakashi grimaces.

"Are you really planning to get serious on me, Naruto?" Kakashi manages to ask in a lazy tone. "You know that if you really get serious, I'd have to respond in the same way."

"What? You mean these gloves?" Naruto gestures. "No, they're for your safety, not mine." He tightens the straps on the gloves, making sure that they fit right in place. The blonde shows Kakashi a threatening grin, one that even makes Kakashi shiver. "I don't want to have our jonin sensei taken to the hospital now do I?"

No, you so want to.

"But anyway, Uchiha, support me if he gets too far. I'll engage him straight on while you keep on throwing your fireballs at him." The boy whispers to the Uchiha beside him. "I have a plan."

Sasuke does not respond. Instead, he pops out a marble sized pill from his pouch, putting it inside his mouth before biting it down. The bitter taste of medicine invades his mouth, unpleasant. But what comes after is relaxing. His chakra is restored.

" **Chakra: Level One."**

Kakashi swears that he heard something coming from Naruto's mouth, but that is before receiving a harsh punch to his abdomen from out of nowhere. In his pained state, time seems to have stopped. The only thing he could feel is the pain concentrating on his abdominal muscles before it spreads throughout his torso, causing him to go through the feeling of being burned from the inside. Kakashi can't feel the ground anymore; he's launched to the tree lines, crashing and thankfully it only takes one of them to stop him. The impact is hard, coupled with the pain on his stomach and the burning sensation that is currently coursing throughout his body, Kakashi is surprised that he's still conscious.

However, the pain and burn is gone in almost an instant. The grey haired man gasps for air, his body arching into a sickening pose before returning back to normal. Slowly and painfully, Kakashi makes an effort to stand on his two feet again. His body is in a state that he has never been through ever since a long time. The last time he felt like this is when he engaged his sensei in a serious one on one fight, and his sensei was holding back at that time. From lidded eyes, Kakashi sees Naruto rushing at him with fists coated in blue flames.

' _He's…!'_

Shock is something Kakashi is not allowed to have when he sees the boy rushing at him. His vision is overcome by blue flames, after that…

"Sakura, now!"

Something swipes against Kakashi's hips; the feeling of something being taken is then realized by the jonin. The bells! The whole point of this whole madness, he lost them! Naruto's punch stops inches away from Kakashi's face. Kakashi jumps back, arms raised defensively. He looks at the boy who is outstretching his fist at him. He's smiling. For a brief moment, a silhouette of another blonde but much older appears behind the whiskered teen, fists outstretched in the same manner as he does, then it disappears. Naruto slowly retracts his fist and hand, letting Kakashi see the vision of three soon to be legends in the making.

"Kakashi, we got the bells."

Kakashi smiles underneath his mask. He scratches the back of his head. "Looks like you three did it. Congratulations, not only did you three managed to get the bells from me, you also showed great teamwork. You three are now officially genins of Konohagakure no Sato. Welcome to the ranks, guys." Kakashi is proud of his team.

A boy who taught himself everything that is needed to be taught, who learns that one can only achieve everything through hard work…

A girl who believes that helping others is a must and a necessity and that it is not an obligation…

And finally, a boy who walks alone yet somehow gains a few people to walk along his side.

This is going to be an interesting team and start of a new journey indeed.

* * *

Why do we build walls? The common and most obvious reason would be to protect whatever is inside, and the scarier and much darker reason is to keep something from getting out. In the case of Uzumaki Naruto, the latter is the correct answer. Uzumaki Naruto is not the thing that needs protecting. He is the wall itself, the wall chosen to keep the thing inside of him, to keep the thing locked within him from getting out.

Why do we doubt? Is it because of insecurity or is it because we trust our own conscious more than we trust others? Uzumaki Naruto both trusts in himself and others. But unfortunately, the thing within him only holds the latter. The thing is a beast meant to be kept inside the wall that is Uzumaki Naruto, it is meant to be locked away for good deep within the boy's very being. The beast, though caged and sealed, is free to roam its domain which also happens to be the boy's soul.

As it roams the murky and mysterious corners and hallways that is the boy's mind, the beast experiences everything the boy went through. It is always there when the boy feels sadness, it is there when the boy feels pain, it is present during the boy's moment of happiness and it is also there when the boy is overcome with rage.

Rage.

It is the vital connection that joins both him and the boy, something that the boy is so good on hiding. For as long as the beast lived, it has never seen a mortal or human being able to withhold so much hatred and spite as much as the boy does. However, the boy is still human and humans are fragile beings. No matter the blood, the matter the title, no matter the status… humans are fragile. They are only tough as far as their clothing of flesh and bones could take them. Eventually, like all humans, this boy will break. And it will wait patiently until that moment comes true, for it is curious. This boy…

This boy who has inherited more than what one man could ever hope for… not by choice nor is it by fate, or even luck.

But by understanding… yes… that is it.

In another life, Uzumaki Naruto is an understanding person. He is a fool who acts like a clown, but that is a part of his charm. The beast's name is Kurama and throughout this entire thirteen years he has been trying to make contact with this boy, his host, his jailer, Uzumaki Naruto. Do not mistake his intention as a good one, for it is not good news that he will reveal. It is something far worse than the separation of his original being, far worse than the death of his father. In this life… Uzumaki Naruto is a calculative person, he is more closed, he is insecure at some point in his life and he is more… distant. But, he is also more understanding to the way things work. He is not as naïve.

In the same life, Uzumaki Naruto is not smart, he is by no means a genius. However, what Uzumaki Naruto from that life and this life shares in common is hard work. Both are hardworking, it is expected since it is a trait that Uzumaki Naruto posses no matter what life they are from. Even if both Uzumaki Naruto, the one from the other life and the one from this life, are different; Kurama believes that he will grow strong and remain pure. Because, basically speaking, Uzumaki Naruto is like a white untainted lily. Though he is more aggressive and rejecting in this life, he still holds that sense of justice, that sense of purity in him that differs him from any other people out there. Kurama has tried everything...

However, Kurama is helpless. He cannot contact the boy, he cannot even have a mental conversation with him. However, he is glad to know that he is aware of his presence. He may be helpless at this point, but he will not yield. Kurama may only be able to wait and roam the empty hallways which are the boy's mindscape now, but he will not fail.

Not anymore.

* * *

"Naruto, what's wrong, you're spacing out?"

A curious and worried question from Sakura snaps the blonde from his day dream. The newly announced and official team seven are right now inside a rather busy barbeque restaurant, enjoying a rather extravagant meal courtesy of Kakashi's treat. Naruto is caught spacing out by the pink haired girl in the team. She noticed that Naruto is being too quiet during the meal, so she decides to ask what's wrong.

Naruto flashes an easy going smile. He waves his hand in a dismissive manner, smiling wide. "Don't worry about me Sakura, just worry about that bowl of rice you got there, otherwise it might just up and leave." The boy jokes good naturedly. He looks down at his own bowl, barely finish. His side dish is still full too. "I think it's better for me to head back first guys… I need to water my plants."

"Why?" Sasuke asks.

"Science, that's why." Naruto deadpans. "Anyway, I'll see you three later, and sensei, if you want to find me then you know where to find me." With that said to his team, he leaves the restaurant. On the way out form the establishment, Naruto holds his forehead in a wincing pain as a brief sensation of sting invades his system.

This is probably just a minor headache… nothing that a good night sleep could fix. Exiting the establishment, Naruto wastes no time on making his way back to his crappy apartment. Speaking of crappy apartments… he's considering a visit to the real estates… but right now, he'll just go home and sleep away this terrible headache of his. Hopefully, it'll be gone the next day.

Hopefully.

* * *

 **This chapter is not beta'd in anyway, due to my incapability of contacting my beta reader. I will update and replace this with a beta'd version once contact has been re-established with my beta, until then**

 **This is me, signing out.**


	5. Before the meeting

Saren never wondered what her relationship with one Uzumaki Naruto truly is. To people who might know of them, they are friends, contacts, people with mutual interest in each other's capabilities… well, that is indeed true. Saren knows that she benefits greatly with Naruto's help. With his daily life of thrill seeking and experience boosting, he gathers quite a number of useful information with him. She too can help him, usually in the form of information. Then it forms their relationship of, at least the one that she is aware of, mutual friends with similar interest who will benefit each other.

It would be easier to say that they are friends with benefits buuuut that will be taken in the _wrong_ way.

Anyway, despite their meeting, they have grown rather close to each other; this is a fact that both can't deny. Well, it's not like anything serious happened at their meeting, in fact, she might as well consider it worth remembering.

One might wonder what their meeting was like…

It was unlike any other.

" _So you're 'Iron'… huh?"_

 _His face, hidden beneath the hood he wears, is unseen to her eyes. He too is in the same shoes as her, her own face is masked by a gleaming half glass mask that covers the upper portion of her face. She keeps her distance to herself, far away from the man, but at an appropriate distance to converse. The chilly wind of night is what shrouds the empty and dark secluded area of one of the many districts in Konoha, coupled with the fact that the moon is shining rather brightly. To her, he is a customer in favor of her services. And to him, she knows, she is the same._

" _So you are the infamous 'Glass Crow' I've been hearing about? Aren't you too young to be doing things like these?" is his carefree and unexpectedly suspense lacking tone. The hooded male crosses his arms; his form is dark underneath the shadows that cover him. He acts unknowingly to the female, getting a good look at her._

 _She does not react to his remark or whatsoever, deciding that acting professional is the only thing she could do. Her small form is indeed that of a child, simply because she is a child. Nine years of age… to be exact. Yes, she is a young girl, a child. But this particular attribute is not only for her… but for him as well. "One might want to look at a mirror before they direct such claim at another."_

 _Iron chuckles from his position._

 _The Glass Crow folds the dark parasol that she has been using to cover herself from the night with, unveiling her form clearer for the male to see. She sees him move from within the shadows, stepping into the basking moonlight. He is a person clothed in mostly dark orange, making her wonder why seeing him is so hard despite his choice of color for his clothing. Other than that, he is rather tall… pretty contradicting for his age. As an information broker, she knows a few important things about him. And as a person who possesses such information about him, she expects him to be more cautious around her._

 _But speaking fairly… it is her who should be cautious around him. For she knows…_

 _She knows who Iron is, she knows of his reputation amongst the denizens of the underground. Some say that he is a thug, just like any other; would kill for money and whores. Whereas some says that he is a monster. Killer of rapists and defilers, assassins of syndicate leaders and mongrels… those are a few of the names she learned about him. However, she fully knows that he is neither of those… now,_

 _He is simply a customer. A seeker._

" _What do you want to know, seeker?"_

" _I need information."_

" _What is it that you need to know?"_

 _She swears, underneath that hood of his, a flash of red has just bled through. "Names. Names of people responsible for the incident back at that orphanage three months ago." His voice has lost all of its previous jollies, replaced by a cold and hushed whisper, almost as if he is hurting by mentioning about it alone._

 _Ah… a personal vendetta. It's quite clear, she means, she kind of expects this. Before she goes any further, she needs to remember that in her line of job, it is the seekers who will always have the first advantage. As an information broker who receives payment through favors, she must reveal the seeker's information first or at least confirm that she will provide them with it before she could receive the seeker's word of promise to return the favor. Iron is the same._

 _At least, that's what she thought he'd do._

 _His arm moves quick, almost in the blink of an eye. She is by no means a fighter, but she too knows what to expect… but she is wrong. She is expecting a knife or something much worse thrown at her direction, but no. A roll of scroll, a rather old and beaten looking one, touches the edge of her shoes, her eyes follow the scroll as it bounces away from the contact before returning back into a stationary state. She looks back at him, wonder underneath her mask._

" _Since I need whatever information you know as soon as possible, I took the liberty of assisting you in your job for me." He grunts out. "There are records, records of which I know nothing about, that might prove to be useful in your research. Do with them however you see fit, and should it be useful, use it for your purpose and mine."_

 _After that, he leaves. He leaves the place, without any trail behind him or marks or whatsoever._

 _Saren picks up the scroll with curiosity. Did she just dream? Did a potential client just help her in doing her job? For himself nonetheless. She does not know whether to take it as an insult or gratitude. Regardless… he does not seem to mind if she uses this scroll for her other purposes._

 _Interesting._

Needless to say, even until now and with her help, Naruto never did quite finish finding the ones responsible for that orphanage incident. Speaking of the incident itself, it was a bloody one. She knows that there are messed up and horrible people out there, people who would do the most inhumane action ever and care little or even not at all for that they have done… but for her, people who massacred an orphanage full of orphans and workers are just…

Sick. No, not sick, they're fucking mental.

No normal people, be it assassins or contractors, would do that kind of deed. It has to be the work of a shinobi. She is differentiating between assassins and shinobi here, simply because the latter is much obvious to be responsible since the orphanage was a part of the shinobi foundation, meaning that it is an orphanage funded by the Great Council itself. The Great Council consists of the Hokage himself and probably some of the most notable clan leaders, though Naruto is completely stubborn to believe that the Hokage and his trusted company might have a hand in that incident, she knows that the boy is suspects them; he's just in denial or something.

Saren sighs. She leaves the scroll, the same scroll which she has received from Naruto during their very first meeting, on her desk. She stands in the middle of her room, attire still the ones that she normally wears. Her eyes are lost to the wall of her room, seemingly fixed on the pink and smooth surface of said wall. It does not help her worry for the boy when she knows what he might have done during those two years of absence…

People, people whose name she'd given to him during his very request, have gone missing and are found dead, broken or literally in pieces in Konoha's dark alleys. Naruto is definitely the one who's responsible for that, but if he's on a quest for revenge then… she can't blame him. But an interesting thing, the shinobi community—at least those who are made aware of the incident—didn't do much to investigate. Sure, there are a couple personal investigators hired by relatives or people close to the victims but all of them were and still are unsuccessful. Naruto is good at what he's doing, he's so good that it's scary even for her. Saren is aware of the blonde's moments, during the days where they would spend time together, she has seen the blonde in his… unhappy state. By unhappy, she does not angry or mad, no. Unhappy here translates to troubled, or a troubled state. Naruto has his hard times, yes, he shared a few with her and whenever he would explain about them, she'd get the feeling as if she's talking to a completely different person. That side of Naruto is completely strange to her, no matter how many times she has seen him like that, it still unnerves her.

Well, maybe she should stop thinking about these things. Her initial plan is to give Naruto his information after all, the one that involves their small talk at the café a day ago.

Maybe later, when they meet, she'll get to ask him why more people is _still_ missing.

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei, can we really do this?"

Kakashi is a person who values trust, teamwork and faith in his team. Which is why, his team's very first training session will be that, teamwork. Currently before him are his three favorite cute little students, their eyes are looking at him with a 'Are you serious' look in them. Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura have their arms tied together in steel cuffs, yes, the ones used by the military police to arrest criminals. But these ones are special you see, not only they are strong, but they are also chakra resistant. So if his students think that they're smart enough to channel chakra to these cuffs thinking that they might break free, then they have doomed themselves further.

The grey haired scarecrow eye smiles at his students, if only one could truly know what kind of face he's making underneath that mask. "Of course you can Sakura, you three are the best team this year's graduates have to offer after all."

Naruto scratches the back of his neck with one of his hands, unconsciously bringing along Sasuke's hand with him, much to the boy's annoyance. "While the praise is appreciated… can't you just tell us why we're like this?" To be honest, he has no idea that the infamous copycat ninja Kakashi will do something like this. Really, handcuffs? Just what kind of freaky deaky shit is this guy into anyway?

"I agree with Uzumaki, Kakashi." The Uchiha huffs, but sadly, he can't cross his arms. Too bad. "If this turns out to be something as pointless as trying to deepen our teamwork, then I will not participate in this foolishness." There goes his Uchiha sneer, and if that sneer could kill, the Uchihas would be the most wanted shinobi clan ever in the continent.

Kakashi raises both hands, as if to show that he understands their complaints. "Maa, maa, don't worry. This is indeed a test to show how good your teamwork is…" he can just picture Sasuke slapping himself in the face at this point, if he can that is. "But this is also a perfect opportunity to test your communication, coordination and quick thinking skills. From yesterday's test, I gathered a few things." He points a finger to the Uchiha. "Sasuke, you are a ranged fighter. While you are adept at close range, you are more efficient in ranged combat. Your chakra control is great and so is your chakra level and you are fairly experienced at reading your opponent's movements. There is nothing wrong with spewing out fireballs at your enemies, but keep in mind that your chakra is not unlimited. If you ran out of it, you'll undergo through chakra exhaustion and trust me, that is not something that you will want to experience. And you focus too much on your enemies instead of your teammates. This may sound good in most situations, but there are situations out there that require you to pay attention to your teammates to. Their condition is second only to yours, and if you are in a bad shape, who will be there to support you?"

Sasuke grunts but accepts the facts nonetheless. He knows his weakness, which is why he practices so hard to overcome it.

The instructor then focuses on the blonde. "Naruto. You have shown great and exceptional prowess in taijutsu and close ranged combat. Your speed is above chunin level, that is something." He sees the blonde grinning like an idiot while rubbing his head sheepishly, again, much to the annoyance of Sasuke. "But… there is something that you lack, a very important thing and that is control. The way you use your chakra is unique, but it also puts you at a great risk of burning your coils. You know what happens to machines when their engines are too hot, right?"

"They overheat and shut down?"

Kakashi nods. "Right, though it may sound similar to your typical case chakra exhaustion, it isn't. It's very far, in fact. Instead of running out of chakra completely, your body is forcing itself to exert and recycle more chakra as you pump yours for the techniques that you use. This circulation isn't healthy; Naruto and it may cause serious physical damage to your body, internally and externally. If this happens in the middle of a fight, you won't only be risking yourself, but your teammates too."

Once Kakashi has finished his evaluation on the blonde, Naruto nods, accepting his teacher's claim.

Then, finally, it's Sakura. And said girl is shaking; she has all rights to be so. "I won't sugar coat it Sakura. Aside from excellent chakra control and a great strategically developed mind, you lack in everything. Speed, power, endurance, stamina, vitality…" Even Sasuke cringes as he listens in to his teacher's harsh revelation to the girl. "You lack all of this. Which is why you are going to make up for them, and let me tell you young lady, it won't be easy. It will be hard and painful." Sakura finds the strength to look at Kakashi right in the eye, an action which the man appreciates and is proud of. "But don't be so downhearted. There is also an upside to this. With your chakra control being the best of the team, you will be able to do chakra related things more easily than your teammates and it is also a beneficial perk. For example, field medics require excellent chakra control to heal an injury."

The statement delivered by Kakashi, the last part especially, interests her. Sakura nods, her eyes growing determined.

Kakashi takes a brief moment to look at his team, feeling their rising determination in the air. Then, Naruto raises his hands, a rather deadpan look on his face. "So… what does this inspiring speech has to do with these?" he gestures to the cuffs which are attached to their hands.

Kakashi returns his look with a bored one. "Not a damn thing, now, your objective today is to dodge every single C-ranked jutsu I will throw at you until evening… and it starts now." Or in other words 'prepare thine anus for the plentiful fucks I am about to giveth to thee'.

Team seven doesn't only get a tardy sensei, they get a jerk too.

* * *

In a certain dark and properly furnished room in a certain shinobi clan compound filled with white eyed pretty boys in a certain village called Konohagakure no Sato…

Is a sulking Hyuuga Hanabi.

"Kuh…! That Uzumaki Naruto… I'll show him what happens to people who humiliate me…!" the girl, no more than nine years of age, is currently banging her fist on her pillow, while having the edge of her blanket chewed in between her teeth. Yes, it is safe to say that Hanabi is still sour about the unfortunate incident and embarrassment she has received due to one particular person named Uzumaki Naruto. She denies of it being her fault, the man, the boy! He must have done it on purpose; after all, no human alive can turn into statues. That is completely impossible and illogical, it must have been a very, very strong genjutsu or something similar. Yeah, that's probably it!

…but the guy never really showed any potential in genjutsu…

No! What is she thinking?! She doubts herself, this must be that bastard's fault once again, curse him!

* * *

"A—ACHOO!"

"DAMMIT UZUMAKI DON'T SNEEZE ON ME!"

"I'M SORRY!"

Meanwhile, Kakashi is having a fun time.

* * *

Hanabi gnaws the edge of her blanket like there is no tomorrow, she's been like this ever since that day. Three consecutive knocks are heard echoing in her room, definitely it comes from outside. Hanabi acts as if there is never a knock in the first place, just sulking underneath her sheets like there's nothing else to do.

"Hanabi-chan… are you okay…?" a soft and mellow like muffled voice pierces through the door. Hanabi recognizes the voice for being her sister's, a voice she does not want to hear at the moment.

"Go away, I don't want to talk to you!" she can imagine the expression on Hinata's face as soon as she says that. Her sister is frail, gentle… some might consider weak. But in reality, all that Hinata ever was is just… kind. She's so kind that it's bad for her. Urgh… she feels bad for saying that right now.

"B—But Hanabi-chan… it's already morning, you haven't eaten anything. Not even l—last night's dinner." Again, Hinata is kind. There is no denying that.

Guilt arises from within Hanabi's wounded heart. She grips her pillow harder than before, to a point where it even stretches the cloth covering. Not long later, she opens the door to her room, her head hung low as she avoids looking her sister in the eyes. She can feel the small draft entering her room, a rather refreshing feeling if she has to admit. Hanabi feels guilty, not only for shouting at her sister, but also for making her worry. Just as Hanabi is about to open her mouth to apologize, she feels a sensation of warmth so familiar to her resting on the crown of her head, a sensation she has never felt ever since a long time ago. Slowly and gently, Hanabi raises her head, her eyes drawing upwards. She sees the smiling face of her older sister, a rare smile but so familiar to her eyes. Coupled with the warm sensation on her head, she cannot unsee the silhouette of a taller woman with long dark purple hair standing behind her sister, sharing the same expression as her.

"E—Eh?! Ha—Hanabi-chan?! Wha—What's wrong?"

Removing her face from her sister's chest, Hanabi flashes Hinata a rare smile. "Nothing… Nee-san. Nothing." But then, the image of a blonde haired ruffian invades her thoughts, ending the brief feeling of happiness in her. Even if that bastard's not here, he still manages to ruin the moment.

* * *

"ACHOO!"

"KYAAA NARUTO YOU DUMMY! KAKASHI-SENSEI PLEASE WAIT NARUTO IS—KYAAAH!"

A very fun time.

* * *

"Hey Nee-san…" Hinata retracts her hand from her sister's head, interested in her questioning tone. "Do you know a person named Uzumaki Naruto?" the younger Hyuuga asks, completely innocent and questioning in nature. She sees her sister's face going blank, as if she's processing the information like a computer.

.

.

.

What's a computer?

"U—Uzumaki-kun?!" Did Hanabi just hear her sister squeal? Sure, her sister may be timid and shy but squealing…? Her face's red too, she's twiddling her thumbs and poking her index fingers together. The way she taps the wooden floor underneath her with her toe seems suspicious, and why is she constantly looking away, as if she's trying to focus on other things? And why is there this strange smell coming from her sister's pants?

"Uh… yeah, Uzumaki Naruto. You know…" Hanabi gestures with her hands on her head, as if she's swiping a mane for a hair. "Blonde hair, blue eyes and rather tall?" her gesture continues in the form of eye rubbing and height measuring; she's really trying to get her sister to think. "Nee-san? You okay?"

"Eh ah! Yes, I am…" Hinata is snapped back to focus at Hanabi's call. She gives her younger sister a nod, as well a softer smile. "Uzumaki Naruto-kun is one of the graduates in the academy; he has recently graduated with us all."

"Eh… so he's an academy student?"

"Erm… no."

"What?"

Hinata takes a deep breath of air. "You see… Naruto—I mean Uzumaki-kun is a special case." She corrects herself, looking a little flustered to the younger girl's confusion. "During the day of team assignments, Iruka-sensei told us that we will be having an extra graduate and apparently, Uzumaki-kun is the one. He said that the Hokage himself chose him, which is why none of us really question his sudden arrival… though it will be a lie if I say that not all of us are curious about him… hm? Hanabi, what's wrong?"

Hinata drifts back to her sister after her lengthy explanation, seeing her in a pale and awe stricken state. Worry wells up inside Hinata, causing her to grip her sister by the shoulders. "Ha-Hanabi-chan?"

"T—T—T—That guy isn't even an academy student…?" the words that comes out from the nine year old's mouth is low, it seems as if she has been told a very, very harsh truth… well, she it's true.

"Uzumaki-kun? Yes… he is…" Hinata lets go of her sister's shoulders. Then she blinks. "But… how do you know Uzumaki-kun, Hanabi?"

A no named and not even an academy student ruffian did _that_ to her? TO HER?!

Then, Hyuuga Hanabi faints into her sister's arms. Oh but she wakes up a few minutes later.

* * *

Kakashi is expecting for this to happen… no… he knows that it will happen, eventually. When he said that he was evaluating his students properly, he was not kidding. That means he analyzes every single detail there is; chakra circulation, footwork, stances, style, speed and even the subtler details like muscle movement; he is capable of minding this much details due to his years of experience in the career and he is damn glad he became a ninja. But back to his students. He is also serious when he said that his students are the best of the batch, no kidding right there.

The three handcuffed teens are panting as if they have ran a full marathon around Konoha's walls, a feat that only a certain spandex wearing taijutsu master could do, and him too. There are scorch marks everywhere, trees are toppled over, some of the parts of the ground are missing and pools of water mixed with fresh dirt are still fresh on the ground. The kids are not doing so well themselves either. Sakura is barely standing; only with the support of Naruto she is still capable of even limping. Her form is hunched, her hair is a mess and clothes ruffled and soaked in sweat due to all the running and evading they had to do. Sasuke is panting, though his eyes are focused on the jonin, his body is weary and could not keep up with anymore movement from the jonin. He'd done well to read some of Kakashi's jutsus, but only read it. The real player here is Naruto, he does most of the moving while he leaves Sasuke with the thinking.

All in all, they make a really good team. Sasuke is equipped with the thinking, he is quick to analyze a situation and predictions and Sakura is there to confirm it. She makes a good support and distraction and if drastic measures are to be taken, Naruto is there to take it. For example, when Kakashi threw a large fireball at them, Sasuke is the first one to react by pulling Sakura downwards while he leaves Naruto to handle with the attack, the Uzumaki is more than capable of dispelling it with his swipe thus ensuring safety for his team. A well balanced team if Kakashi has to say.

Clasping his gloved hands, Kakashi eye smiles at his team. "And that is it for today kids." All three of them sighs in relief, mostly Sasuke and Sakura since the both of them are the ones who are worn out. "Come here and let me take those off from you."

"Ah, there's no need Kakashi." All eyes are on the blonde when he balled his palms into fists. He grips the cuffs on his wrist, and to the horror and awe of his teammates and the interest of Kakashi, he manages to bend the cuffs out of shape, destroying the mechanism thus breaking it to release his wrist free. "Oh yeah; here Uchiha, Sakura, let me get yours." Clinks and clicking noise happens for four more times before they are left with nothing on their wrist.

"Hm… did you channel chakra to do that?" Kakashi asks, scratching a masked chin.

Naruto shakes his head in negative. "No, that was all me."

"How are you capable of exerting that much pressure on chakra sensitive metals anyway…?" the bubblegum haired girl asks while rubbing her sore wrists, attempting eye contact with the blonde. "You need to at least have a tougher metal and crushing force to be able to at least put a dent on it."

"Training I guess." The blonde shrugs his shoulders freely. "I mostly train my physical condition, so doing things like this is pretty much a piece of cake… I mean, I'm not an irregular for someone who trains a lot, right?"

Sasuke rolls his eyes, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "I wouldn't say that… I train a lot, though not as much as you in physical conditioning, but that is not something that you could pull so easily."

"Hey, if you use chakra to enhance your body like I do and do physical exercises for almost half your life then you'll be able to do things you thought you never could do." Naruto says. "That's why I'm so rugged and tough, I use chakra enhancement methods on my body." Well… he is not exactly lying here, but there is no need for his team to know about his weird physical condition just yet.

"Most interesting Naruto. So that's why your punches are so hard… you might even be able to rival one of the Sannin, Tsunade."

Naruto does not appreciate the joke well. He scoffs, kicking dust. "I'm not going to rival her, I'm going to surpass her. Her along with every other names out there, just remember it." He gives his team a snarky grin when he says this.

Sasuke rolls his eyes at the display, Sakura giggles while Kakashi simply eye smiles. "Maa, you three are free for the rest of the day." He looks up for a moment, taking in the scene of the orange sky above him. "But be here the next day at seven, we're going to have our first assignment." At this, only both Sasuke and Sakura seem interested. Naruto shakes his head, a knowing smile on his face as he does this. These two are in for a surprise tomorrow…

"Well." The blonde announces. "I'll be taking my leave now, see ya."

The three remaining watches the boy leaves, each are occupied with their individual thoughts about the boy. Sasuke now sees why his brother holds the boy in such a high impression, Uzumaki Naruto is definitely a great and skilled individual, this is a chance for Sasuke to know his level so that he could catch up to his brother. Sakura gets to know the blonde a little bit more today, and she is definitely satisfied of what she's seen the boy could do. He is a capable teammate; that much reassures her if they are to have assignments like missions outside of the village's walls. Kakashi however… his is deeper and requires another audience to discuss it with.

Sasuke turns to leave, quite surprised to see that Sakura follows without bothering him for a date.

The evening sky of Konoha marks another start in their days and one of them especially.

* * *

"You're looking for me, Saren?"

"Yeah."

Inside a familiar café, two close business partners are sharing a conversation over some tea and coffee. The Lolita dress wearing girl lowers her parasol next to her as she lets the waitress rest the cup of warm red tea she has ordered from earlier. Opposite of her is the blonde whiskered teen, sipping his Java with sass. The atmosphere of the setting is calm and relaxed, it tends to be like this whenever it's nearing night. There is music playing through the speakers in the café, definitely a good time to have evening snacks.

Saren slips a brown paper file over the table and to the blonde. Said blonde raises a single eyebrow at the gesture, his eyebrow relaxes upon remembering the occasion. The blonde sips his coffee one more time before eyeing the file and looking back at Saren. "That didn't take long."

"Yeah, it took shorter than usual, surprisingly." Saren says, tipping milk into her tea. "Say, how's your ninja career?" she asks with a hint of cheekiness in her tone, she stirs her cuppa, letting the milk mix with tea. "Is it as 'experience giving' as you thought it might be?"

Naruto snorts at Saren's snide comment. He taps the table's wooden surface, three consecutive taps. "Nothing happened, yet. But we're going to have our first assignment tomorrow, probably a D-ranked one."

"Pfft…!" Saren nearly spits her tea when she hears the mentioning of the letter 'D'. "I feel _soooo_ sorry for your teammates."

Naruto mocks hurt, though he's smiling. "What about me?"

The brown haired Lolita girl gives the blonde a playful sneer. "You? I could care less of you."

They both laugh at the inside joke.

"But Naruto, I've wanted to ask you something." Saren trails off as she stirs her tea. "You… you're still not looking for _them_ , are you?" it is as if the temperature of the café has dropped instantly. The moment the question rolls of her tongue, Saren knows that she is about to see that part of Naruto which she is not fond of.

"I'm still."

Saren could not even believe how fast he accepts it. The girl blinks a few times, processing the confirmation given by the boy. She is not talking to the carefree and playful Naruto anymore… right now, she is talking to a killer. "I'm still looking for the people responsible for that incident… I can't stop until I've found the one responsible for it." She is surprised that the cup he's holding hasn't broke yet. "Thirty three children, ranging from ages five to thirteen are all dead. There's still the matrons working there… six of them. It would've been better if it was a fire that killed them…" okay, now that cup is no more but shards of ceramic. "But massacred? That's unforgivable."

Saren will say it again. She can't blame Naruto for feeling this way, even she is disgusted.

The pubescent girl bites her lower lip. The self-restrain is hard to keep, Saren cannot help but ask more. "…But what makes you so sure that the one responsible is a ninja?" she knows that Naruto knows, but it is a reassurance to ask.

"Oh I know that it's a shinobi alright…" the blonde mutters darkly. "And I know you know, Saren." He glares at her.

Saren flinches, but hides it well. The girl sighs. "Regardless… if you're not careful, the Hokage is going to find out about this thing that you've been doing. Doing things like framing a drug lord or mafia boss for the death of a council member is not going to work this time, it's a good thing that your recent targets are just corrupted business men. Otherwise, you'd get yourself locked up in T&I right now."

Naruto sighs, his primal look disappearing. "Which is why I asked you to dig some infos about them for me, I'm not going to walk around in the dark naked after all. And since I'm going to do this, I might as well tell you how I'm going to repay you." Saren is all ears. "I'm going to sneak into their headquarters to gather some important things, I might stumble into things you consider interesting so that's how I'm going to pay you back."

Saren shrugs, looking away. "That's acceptable." Her other clients might be interested to know about who's locked up in the T&I cells. "Just make sure you have them written, I don't want to have to remember all the things you reported to me."

"Yeah, sure princess."

"D—Don't call me that idiot." Saren coughs to her fist, her face flushed, much to the amusement of Naruto. Her face grows more flushed, and before she knows it, she is already uneasy. "S—Say Naruto… you… we haven't really spend that much time together recently now have we?"

The boy's expression turns stoic, completely unreadable. "No, no we haven't. If my memory is right, we have just talked her two days ago. What's wrong Saren?"

She whispers something inaudible to him, one that causes the redness on her face to become more evident. "Don't make me say it you idiot…" her eyes are downcast, fixed on the brownish pool that is her milked tea.

Naruto needs a few moments to read the girl's expression to figure out whatever it is she wants for him. Then, it clicks into him. "Ah…" he blurts out knowingly, eventually, his own face grows flushed, but far subtler than Saren's. "I…I appreciate the thought Saren…" his wording might have come out wrong, due to the sad expression which is currently being reflected upon Saren's face. Naruto sighs. "I swear, you girls are just so… fine." He says with a final edge.

Pulling out a few bills from his wallet, he slams it on the table and he proceeds to directly grab the girl's hand, dragging her out of the café much to her surprise. "W—Wait you dumb blonde! Wait!" Saren's screams of outrage are ignored by the blonde ever since they made it outside of the café. The boy continues to lead her, dragging her by the wrist and going forward with an objective that is unknown to the girl. "Where are you taking me you dummy!?"

Naruto stops suddenly, causing Saren to tumble and eventually fall on him. Due to Naruto's strong posture, he manages to keep the girl from falling. Her answer is only the sight of his smile, as well a familiar and teasing twinkle in his eyes. "P—Pyaah! L—Let me down you dummy!" she struggles on his carry, but he makes no effort of stopping her. She opens her eyes only to stares into his, that's where she stops struggling. She can't do anything. Not after she see has seen those blue eyes of his. Saren's eyes soften, she lost all effort of fighting back. Technically speaking… she was the one who asked for it.

"Saren."

Her body reacts at his call. It's amazing how they both are able to ignore the looks people are giving them, even the whispers they're letting out.

"W—What is it…?" she whispers out timidly.

His foxy smile is her answer.

"Let's go to my place."

She can only wordlessly nod as he takes her away… in more ways than one.

* * *

"Good morning sleepy head."

Waking up to the sound of somebody else's voice is not a very strange experience for him, even if the person is a butt naked girl who's on the same bed as him. The first thing he sees is Saren's face looking over him with her hair slightly disheveled from sleeping and their 'strenuous' activity from last night. He responds to her statement by blinking a few times, rubbing his eyes to get the cracks off from the corners. Slowly and effortlessly, he shifts into a sitting position and immediately, he feels warm already and it's not because of the morning sun seeping through the window pane.

"Hmmm…" Saren hums in bliss as she envelops his form in a tight and affectionate hug. "Now I get why those girls in downtown are so interested you so much." The way she says it is as if she has said it before, which is true. Yes, this isn't the first time they did something like this. The first time was a long time ago, back when Naruto used to spend time with her. So… yeah, apparently, Naruto is into flat chested girls, no matter how old they are. Not that she's saying that she is flat chested or anything… b—but anyway, she just hopes that whatever loli out there knows what they're doing if they happen to meet this dumb blonde.

Naruto snorts, letting her does as she pleases. "Heh, that's not the kind of thing to say to a guy who you just hooked up with last night." It would be good if he could stretch right now, but Saren isn't letting him. "Besides, interested is not the right word… 'addicted' is." He hums in a thinking expression. "Ow. What was that for?" the boy asks questioningly when she flicks him right in the noggin. Not that it hurt or whatever.

"Ba~ka!" Saren is stretching the word playfully. "That's not the kind of thing to say to a girl who you just hooked up with last night. Bweeh!" she sticks her tongue out. "Baka Naru—mwwooh!" she is expecting him to flick her at her forehead as a return to her own, but what she's not expecting is for him to grab the edge of her tongue with his fingers. "Mmmhh! Lweeh gwooh ovb mwah tungh…!"

The grin Naruto is showing her quickly makes her regret ever trying to be playful with him. It is a big mistake if one were to try to get playful with Uzumaki Naruto because, just like last night, he'll be the one to have all the fun in the end. "Ah, ah, ah." The blonde says out in a scolding manner, his other finger wagging sideways, similar to a parent scolding a child. "Little girls who likes to tease their Onii-chan are naughty." He then draws in closer to her, pulling her with her tongue still in his grip, lips slowly stretching into a devious smirk. "And naughty girls need to be punished…"

His breathing trickles her lips.

" _ **Hard."**_

 _CLICK_

"Excuse me!" it is then followed by the sound of the bedroom opening. "Naruto we have team assignment today, Kakashi-sensei sent us here to pick you u—uuaaaATATATA!?" Haruno Sakura has never been so embarrassed and distressed in her whole entire life. She becomes a stuttering and blushing wreck, her pointer shakily and slowly rising and aimed at the two who are on the bed.

"Oi Uzumaki, let's get going already. Even if Kakashi is late the least we could do is to wait for him ther—" Uchiha Sasuke is frozen, he's as frozen as a popsicle. Every single hair in his body is standing up, eyes are as wide as saucers and mouth slightly opened. The poor boy has just entered the room, and he's greeted by the sight he's currently seeing. He notices that Sakura is here too.

Both girl and boy who are on the bed blinks, frozen in surprise. Until Naruto reacts in the most obvious way possible.

"Dude!" it's loud.

Sakura's mouth opens wider.

Sasuke is visibly shaking, a slight hint of froth is appearing from the corner of his mouth.

"Duuuude!" it gets louder.

Naruto lets go of Saren's tongue and he begins to wave his hands up in the air.

"DUUUUUDE!" it gets even louder. "Do you even knock bro?"

* * *

Team seven's first D-ranked mission went well than what they expected. Their job was simply you see, just a simple and ordinary chore of painting a client's fence in white paint. Since this is their first debut and assignment as a ninja, none of them has the right to complain of what mission or assignment that they will be getting, no matter if the task is basically a chore in itself. Keeping their opinion to themselves the three genins did as what their client desired. After a job well done… Naruto's two teammates cannot resist the urge to ask about what happened earlier in the morning.

"So Naruto… who was that girl?"

The blonde takes a minute to sip his tea; his posture is calm and undisturbed. He sets his mug aside on the empty table before him, before looking at Sakura straight in the eyes. "She's just a friend." His answer is calm, it is as if he's discussing his… eh… shopping list or whatever.

Naruto sends the Uchiha a silent look. Though the black haired Uchiha is not showing it, he is interested. The bubblegum haired girl recoils slowly, her expression slightly shocked. "She's just a friend…?" then her face turns slightly pink, akin to the color of her hair. "B—But friends don't do… _that_ _kind_ of stuff!" the girl whispers in a hushed manner, obviously she is too embarrassed to speak it out in context.

Well, the Uzumaki can't blame her. The tea shop they are in right now is fairly reserved, it's quiet and peaceful. So talking about things like what on earth you were doing to a girl on your bed while holding her tongue and being butt naked at the same time is not a very appropriate topic. Naruto smirks, he rests his shoulder on the table, before he uses that empty palm of his to rest his head.

"What do you mean 'that kind' of stuff, Sakura-chan?" the blonde asks in a sing song manner with an obvious and thick hint of cheekiness and teasing. He finds pleasure in seeing the girl turning into the same color as her hair.

"Y—Y—Y—You know! Things like…" she then realizes that he is just messing with her, much to her further embarrassment. "Dammit Naruto, don't tease me!" Sakura nearly drops the plate of dango from the table when she slams her palm on the surface. The girl looks around and notices the look people are giving her. She is blushing a lot today.

"Ahaha!" the blonde could not resist the urge to laugh at his teammate's embarrassment. "Okay, I'm sorry. Sorry…" he breathes out, letting air circulation work. "Honestly speaking, she's a friend, she's more to me, but a friend nonetheless." He raises a hand when Sakura is about to speak. The twin blue orbs, which are Naruto's eyes, find themselves staring the girl to quietness. "Friends get lonely sometimes Sakura… it does not help when we haven't seen each other since two years." He explains to them slowly for them to understand. "Saren, her name, is a close friend of mine. And yeah, even if I slept with her before, she is nothing more than just a precious friend. A _very_ precious friend."

Uwaah his lecherous grin is showing…

' _Wait… if Naruto is seeing her as nothing more than just eh… that kind of friend then… isn't he just playing around with her?! Why would she..!?'_ Sakura nearly gasps in shock when she reaches this conclusion. The girl pays close attention to the blonde _. 'W—Well… Naruto is attractive but that still doesn't explain why people our age are doing t—that kind of thing… and the fact that he is just playing with her is just mean!'_

"Ah, before you get any weird ideas, Saren is only a year younger than me and she is the one who asked for it." Naruto says this while raising a finger as well as sporting a large smile. "She begged for it too." wider.

Sakura sighs. At least the person she's fallen for is not a womanizer like Naruto… Sasuke may be cool and cute, but he has this dark and unsociable attitude that makes girls both interested and disappointed by him. "Still… I just can't believe that one of my teammate has a type of 'friends with benefits' relationship with someone."

At this, the blonde frowns. "Saren and I are not friends with benefits Sakura."

The girl gives him a dry and sour look, as if the statement he has just said seems like a foreign and unknown language to her. "Oh yeah, how so?"

"Because whenever we did it, she'd enjoy it more than I do." He whines. "Friends with benefits means that you both will benefit each other but it's not the case with me. For me, whenever we'd do it,, she's the one who gets to feel good most of the time." Sasuke and Sakura are instantly red in the face. While Naruto, he's currently sulking. "Not that I was saying that our 'strenuous' activities aren't good… but it would be nice if she could last for at least another minute before passing out." Then, he notices how quiet it has become. He gives his red faced teammates a curious look. "Why're you guys so red?"

"Na—Naruto…" Sakura whispers out in disappointment and embarrassment, for some reason. Meanwhile, Sasuke takes a moment to look away to clear his face from the redness which is currently attempting to spread across his body.

Naruto clasps his hands together, bringing an end to the topic. "A~ny~wa~y, now that you know what you guys wanted to know… anything else? Hm, hm~?" he wiggles his eyebrows for effect.

The girl of the group slowly raises her hand, her face holding a minor hint of hope. "…Saren-san is the only one, right?"

The damned blonde looked away.

"…You damned womanizer."

"…How are you so strong?"

.

.

.

Even Sakura has to look at the raven haired boy to make sure if she isn't just hearing things. Naruto stares at Sasuke for a good five seconds before relaxing back to his seat. He picks his ears out, before he's convinced that Sasuke really did ask him a question.

"Well… that's a hard question to answer." Naruto starts, his voice serious. "I train… is the answer I would have given you but I know that you won't be satisfied with just that. So I'm going to be very specific." He gives Sasuke a deep look with his eyes. "I pushed my body to the limit where normal men would break before they can even get close to theirs. I built my body from ground up, working on every flaws and finding ways on how I could counter them. I found out I was slow, so I made myself faster. I found out I was dumb, so I made myself smarter. It's not really training, really, all I did was doing everything in my power to go beyond what I could do." He crosses his arms, but still maintaining that look with the Uchiha. "That's how I'm strong, Sasuke."

"Impossible." If Sasuke is to say that he has just blundered that out, everyone would believe it. His reaction comes out so blunt that for a second, Naruto thought that he is actually criticizing him. "I trained hard, I worked hard and I was not as fast as you, I wasn't as strong as you and I was definitely not as skillful as you." Naruto does not need well trained eyes to know that the boy is agitated right now. "How? How are you able to be so strong?"

Before answering, the blonde hums. "…Strong, is that what you called it? Well, sorry to say Uchiha Sasuke, I'm not _strong_." He says flatly. Then… a stupid grin appears on his face. "I'm both strong _and_ stubborn." If Sasuke is not pissed after hearing this, then no one knows what he'd do. "You see, being stubborn is actually a good thing. Have you ever felt like 'Oh I can't do this shit, it's too tough'? Well, that just means that you're not stubborn." He says again this time with a little bit more edge to it. "If you're stubborn Uchiha Sasuke, you'd stop caring about what your mind thinks and start doing things that you considered unnecessary, tiring, impossible… especially."

The Uchiha does not miss the rare gleam on the blonde's eyes.

"And not only stubborn, I'm also dependent too. Yeah, me saying that may contradict to every single detail I've said but I can't just become stubborn on my own, right?" his grin is always giving them that kind of feeling, the feeling as if he knows what he's doing. "I find an aim, people I care, people I look up too… especially if I wanted to become like them. And I'm not going to tell you what my aim and who those people are, but I'll tell you this." He taps the table as if to prove a point. "Being 'strong' is not enough." A cold chill passes by. "Instead of saying 'strong', try to say the word excellent." he says this with arms spread. "It not only means that you have the power, you also have all the required skills to back it up."

Naruto empties his cup with one gulp, before slamming it back to the table. "So, that's my answer Sasuke. Still not satisfied? Come meet me on the public training grounds on any day at about four in the morning, we'll have a talk over it."

Both pink haired and black haired teen watch as their blonde haired teammate leaves the scene, his right arm waving goodbye while his feet are taking him outside of the shop.

Sakura looks at Sasuke, figuring out that he'd be in a bad mood. And true, he is in a bad mood. "Sa…Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke says nothing. He stands up from his seat, pulls out his bills and leave without saying a single word.

The girl is all alone and confused. The only thing she will think of is hopefully for Naruto and Sasuke to get along better in the future.

* * *

It's almost done.

" **Naruto… I'll be seeing you soon."**

Everything goes black and later, a group of medic ninjas arrived at the hospital with the body of an unconscious Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

 **Sorry to be a jerk with the cliffhanger there, but I've went pass my original word limit. Again, story is unbeta'd and will be replaced as soon as possible.**


	6. Making Waves

Kurama is the infamous Kyuubi no Kitsune who is responsible for the attack on Konoha thirteen years ago. He is, labeled by the hateful humans out there, a demon. However, he is not the only one. He is one of the nine tailed beasts, the eldest and the strongest of them all. His power which could cause tsunamis with a swing of its tail, it could also create large scale earthquakes with only a slam of its paw. A true demon is scary… it's a nightmare. Upon the first time meeting his jailer, Uzumaki Naruto, he believed that the boy will either scramble on his feet over fear of his unholy presence or label him as a being that is not him entirely.

They… the Tailed Beasts are not demons. They are chakra, a pure embodiment of power, and nine fragments of a primordial god. This fact is only known to some of the minorities, a fact that Uzumaki Naruto from his original timeline knew. Kurama witnessed the death of his partner, comrade and dare he say friend. He watched when that damned Uchiha Madara stuck his fingers into the boy's skull, ripping it off from m his spine and simply casting it aside as if it was trash. Kurama made a very critical and undeniably the most selfish decision.

He used the combined powers of the tailed beasts, his own and that of his kin, to transport himself back to the past, to a time where Uzumaki Naruto has not existed yet. He tried everything in his power in order to change the fate that will befall his partner, but failed. It happened again, just like a tape being played over and over, he had once again watched the death of Uzumaki Naruto. He tried again, he made that selfish and critical decision of sending himself back in time once again, but he was faced with the same result over, and over, and over and over again.

Kurama has been playing with the power of time for far too long, he's afraid that the world might have to pay for it. But it does not matter… as long as Uzumaki Naruto will not meet that very same fate he's cursed to face, he will do anything in his power even if the world has to bleed every now and then.

Right now… this is the five thousandth and sixty three trial.

He will meet Uzumaki Naruto soon. And hopefully this time, he will succeed.

" **So my jailor has come to greet me…"**

Naruto is facing a sight that no one would get to see in a daily basis. He stares, unblinkingly to the massive and locked cage inside of him. His eyes are not moving from side to side, he is simply fixed on the equally massive being which is trapped or locked within the cage. The coldness and dampness of water has frozen his ankles, he could not move due to that and the fact that there is a giant like being trapped in a massive cage in front of him.

Naruto may be dense, he may be slow… but he is not dumb.

All the words… all the glares… all the hate and all the spite…

He is currently staring into the root of it all, the reason for his hatred. And he laughs. He laughs, hard. He hunches forward, clutching his stomach in pain for laughing too hard. He is laughing so hard to a point where he misses the look of sadness, joy, gladness and pain on the beast's face. The beast, big and intimidating even in all of its' caged glory, kills whatever expression it was making when Naruto finally finishes laughing, his chest heaving to get air circulating back properly. Slowly but shakily, the boy raises a finger, his pointer, towards the beast. The only reaction the boy gets from the beast is just a slight raise of its eyebrow, still an impressive feat, for a human however.

' _ **Don't you dare laugh at me you idiot kit!'**_

 _After all this time…_

' _ **Don't show me you miserable and pathetic face!'**_

 _He's not sure if he could save him… he could… right?_

Kurama has been through this countless of times and each time, the boy would give him different reactions. On one timeline, the boy practically accused him of being the reason for the village's hatred towards, another one had him laughing just like this—minus the hunching of form and another one involved the boy fainting in fear. This timeline… Kurama will not let him die, he won't let Uzumaki Naruto die!

"You…" a single word escapes the blonde's mouth, his face is cast downwards, not allowing the beast to see it. "You're real… you're really, really, real…" Oh how small his voice is when he speaks.

" **Of course I am real you puny human."** The arrogant and booming voice which belongs to the beast echoes the seemingly unending halls of the place. **"And before you have any funny ideas, I am not exactly locked here… to you, I may be locked behind a cage, but inside of this is a maze filled with many corridors and hallways that I have memorized… every nook and cranny of it."** He's basically saying that the cage is actually bigger than what it looks like from the 'outside'. And if it were able to make Naruto enter the cage to where it is… he's pretty much screwed.

The blond wipes a tear from the corner of his eye, ceasing his laugh. He sighs in an almost blissful manner, his gaze is once again fixed onto the beast inside the cage, but with fear no longer in his eyes. "You're smaller than I thought, I figured you'd be bigger than the Hokage Mountain or close."

" **Impudent human, wipe that grin off your face."** The Kyuubi says back with an all too menacing grin of his own. **"The reason why I'm not big enough to break through this damned cage is due to that seal, the piece of paper. Your bastard the Fourth Hokage made it like this, so you could thank him for that."**

"Meh, I think I will. But I'll probably sucker punch him right in the gut too for sealing a fluffy ass being like you in my gut."

" **You hairless ape… anyway, onto pressing matter."** A serious tension is building up and Naruto knows when to keep his mouth shut. **"There is a reason as to why you are here."** The being states. **"I have seen you from within this insufferable cage and witness your progress, your skills and your training. While other humans may consider your training as cruel, tiring, and hard; I personally find it pitiful, a waste of major time and sad. Mostly the latter most."** The giant fox smirks when he sees the expression on his tenant's face. **"And I do not want that. Due to you being my jailor and me being unfortunately sealed inside of you, you cannot afford to embarrass me by being weak. In other words, you must become strong."**

" **Do not speak just yet, I am not done."** The Kyuubi's eyes are sharp, calculating and intimidating. **"The second reason; I find it necessary for you to know about my presence here. The man you consider your grandfather has hidden a lot of things from you, things that even I would try to hide myself. For whatever the reason, should you get curious about them, be patient. I do not want you to get yourself lost finding answers when I want you to become strong for both me and obviously your own benefit. And the third thing, you will try to become strong on your own. I won't help you."**

.

.

.

"Okay, that last one is just plain unreasonable." It's a rare sight to see the blonde making a seriously annoyed expression on his face. "How can I become strong in a very fast pace without some immediate help?" he points a finger at the being. "Forget getting help, why are you saying these things anyway? It's as if you know that I'll die soon or something…"

The massive being of power scoffs, rolling his giant eyes. **"I am here caged, trapped… sealed. Not by choice, but from greed. If there is one thing that I'll tell you about the past it's this; I did not attack Konoha on my own accord, it was never my intention to do that."** He lets it sink for a while. **"You can say that we both really do not want to be in the situation or condition we are in on."**

This makes the blonde thinking. Despite the utterly unreasonable claim the fox is saying to him, he is somehow finding the fox's statement somewhat believable. There are two points as to why his feeling is not entirely false. One, the fox hasn't been making any claim on escaping where he should since he was not sealed here from something that he'd intentionally done. And two… he's telling him too much, despite the fact that he still knows nothing at all.

" **Speaking of conditions…"** the deep voice of the fox snaps Naruto out from his thinking. **"The one you have now is both your weakness and strength."** This has Naruto listening on full ears. **"Despite my little knowledge of it, I have come to this conclusion from merely observing you. When you… morph, you are completely at the mercy of whatever element or state you will transform to; meaning that you have no control over what state you will be transformed into. This can be a weakness. For example, in a battle against skilled hand to hand combatants, you may have the Taijutsu skill to back it up, defeat them possibly… but if you were to change into a state… something like concrete, then you are screwed."**

" **Your body is brittle thus making you easier to break. Let's say that they managed to break you into millions of pieces and even if you are capable of 'collecting' yourself from the dust or shards that you are, they won't let you. They'll try to gather you first, preventing you from reforming again. And from that point…"** the beast's eyes watches as his tenant shiver **. "You can guess what will happen to you."**

Naruto can only hear the dripping sound of water that echoes through the hall behind him. The conclusion that the Kyuubi has given him is something that has not come to his mind, because he believes that even if he morphed in the middle of a fight, his body will be able to deal with whatever damage he will take.

" **However, that thing you pulled during your match with the Hatake was something I did not expect."** Naruto knows that he is referring to the chakra enhanced punch he pulled on Kakashi. **"You idiotically released your tenketsu, thus allowing chakra to flow quicker than that of the usual rate, making your circulation even faster. This allows you to perform extraordinary feat, such as delivering powerful punches, moving at incredible speeds etcetera… this is certainly impressive. But don't be proud, this is not something new, I've seen people punch harder even without using chakra and the last person I saw doing that was responsible for creating a lake."**

It was safe to assume that the Kyuubi was waving his massive hand. **"And the fact that you are currently strong enough to land a blow on a Jonin who held back tremendously, that's still something, if not shabby."**

"Gee…" the Uzumaki rubbed the back of his head. "Never thought that there will be a day where I'll be praised by the great and magnificent Kyuubi himself…"

The beast inside the caged huffed. **"Then bask in the praise, human. Now go, wake up, your teammates are worried about you."**

"How do I do that?" asked a confused Naruto, wondering.

" **Just imagine yourself walking out of a door."**

And he did.

As Kurama watched the boy disappears from his mindscape, he felt a great sense of relief in him. It won't happen again, Kurama reassured himself all the time with that kind of thinking. Even though telling the boy the truth about who he is, where he's from and what his motives might be inevitable in the end… he will try his damned best on keeping the kid alive. No… he must keep the kid alive and growing stronger each day.

In order to see him reach happiness… he will do everything. However, he cannot just foolishly reveal everything to the boy right now… there are too many risks that will come up in doing so. By breaking the time-space rule alone has caused changes that Kurama may or may not notice, so for the meantime, keeping the boy in the dark is something that he must do.

God help him when it's time to reveal things to the kid.

* * *

When he came to, he is already greeted by familiar faces.

The twin azure orbs that belong to one Uzumaki Naruto blinks several time, his eyes are adjusting to the brightness of the light coupled with the white walls and surrounding of the room. This is definitely the hospital, as if the smell alone is not enough to tell him. He groans, feeling a little light headed.

"Okay, where am I… oh right, hospital." He looks around, giving everyone a brief look. "Sup."

Everyone is relieved that the blonde could speak. The Hokage is the first to step forward, concern expressed through his face. "Are you okay, Naruto-kun? Your teammates told your sensei that you suddenly fainted in the middle of the street-"

"Jii, it's fine, there's no need for you to worry that much, okay?"

At hearing the blonde's words, the third Hokage sighed. This boy is too stubborn for his own good. "Still… are you okay?"

He nods. "I'm fine, tebbayo. I can still kick Kakashi's ass 'till next week!" he cheers with his usual enthusiastic tone and expression, fist pumping in the air.

Sakura shakes her head. Though she is not really showing it, she is concerned for the boy. "Idiot. You don't just shout when you've just recovered, you need to rest." Her suggestion seems to be valid and reasonable.

But being the stubborn and unreasonable person Naruto is, he huffs. "Nah, I'll be fine after an hour." He looks around, before settling to Kakashi. "Anyway, can I leave now?"

The jonin is surprisingly not reading his favorite book. He gives the boy a thoughtful look behind his mask before answering. "The doctor didn't say that you suffered from anything serious… and knowing that it's you, you'll try to escape anyway. So, you're good to go." His trademark eye smile is shown for all to see.

Naruto's grin is widespread, he jumps out from the bed he is 'chained' to before and reaches for his utility pouch. Surprisingly, to his own and several others, Sasuke hands it over to him before he could even go near it.

This catches the Uzumaki off guard, before eventually he smiles. "Thanks Uchiha."

"Hn."

The third Hokage, predicting that the blonde will directly jump out of the window, stops him before he could exit the room by clearing his throat. "Ahem, Naruto-kun, before you go, could you at least tell us the reason why you fainted right in the middle of daylight? Doctors said that you didn't suffer from any chakra exhaustion, you are not sick and no abnormalities are detected at all."

To the old man's curiosity, the blonde squirms at his spot, the young boy's facial feature changing into that of an unpleasant one. He can guess that Naruto is hesitating from something, something that might be important. This causes him to be slightly anxious and nervous for private reasons. But to his surprise, the boy sighs almost in a surrendering manner and then giving him a solemn look.

"There's really no reason to hide it…"

So it's—!

"Sasuke and Sakura know about it already."

"WHAT?!"

Everyone looks at the Hokage weird. Said Hokage realizes the outburst he just made before coughing to his balled fist, motioning for the boy to continue.

"I… didn't get much sleep last night."

Everyone's reactions are different. Kakashi is just normal, Hiruzen is relieved while both Sakura and Sasuke are red on their faces. Kakashi notices this and cannot help but to ask. "You didn't get much sleep, why?" this makes the other two genin even more flustered. Hiruzen notices this too, which is why he is looking at Naruto for him to continue.

The whiskered teen gives Kakashi a freaked out look, it is as if Kakashi has just revealed something that Naruto does not want to hear. "Hey! What I do with the girls I bring to my bed is my own thing, okay? You can't ask that, even if you are my sensei!"

"…I'm sorry?" this is the Hokage.

The orange wearing teen huffs once more, this time crossing his arms. "Sheesh… and I thought Kakashi is the only pervert. Okay fine, you want me to go into details; I'll tell you. We did it about five times last night and she—"

"NO! NO! No thank you!" Before things could get worse, the Hokage steps in. Sasuke and Sakura are so red that they might even outshine a certain Hyuuga when blushing. "T—That won't be necessary thank you very much!"

Naruto shrugs, at least he doesn't have to talk. The air is noticeably uncomfortable. Hiruzen is repeatedly smacking his fist to his wrinkly forehead, Sasuke and Sakura are so silent and red faced and Kakashi is looking at Naruto in a new light.

"Naruto, you've made me proud."

"Uh… thanks?" Naruto says with honest confusion.

Needless to say, everyone goes home learning new things that day.

* * *

"Hey dad, I'm back from team practice!"

Upon seeing his daughter's entrance, Dante returns on cleaning his counter clean from any dust that gathers there. Tenten drops her bag on a nearby container near the counter, or behind the counter to be specific.

"Welcome back dear, how'd training go?"

Tenten sighs as her shoulders slump. "Hard… I can't land a single hit on Neji because of his technique." There's a thick hint of dissatisfaction from the young girl's tone. Her shoulders slump down even further, after remembering a particular memory. "I lost most of my favorite kunais."

"Hmph. That's just to show that you're not doing your training seriously." Dante flicks his daughter on the forehead, much to her protest. He ignores her, continuing on cleaning his counter with cloths. "Just practice harder than what you're doing right now, you'll beat that pompous Hyuuga in no time."

"Dad! Don't say stuffs like that about my teammate!"

"What? My little not so girlish girl has an itty bitty crush on the not so boyish boy?" what is meant to be taken as joke, is taken a little bit too serious for the girl.

"H—Hey! That's rude!" the twin buns girl shouts in mild embarrassment, her face glowing slightly red.

"Hah." The blacksmith scoffs openly, throwing his rag away for use later. "At least pick the other boy, even if he's weird and a little bit touched in the head, he got the looks of one." He crosses his large arms, harrumphing a second time. "Or better yet, choose the blonde over the two, yeah?"

Tenten is confused. Her head slightly tilted sideways is a form of expression to show her confusion on her father's words, aside from the expression she's showing. "Blonde? What blonde?" she asks.

Dante raises an eyebrow. "You don't know? You know… tall, spiky haired, whiskers, blue eyes…"

After hearing the incomplete and brief description from her father, Tenten's expression of confusion disappears instantly. What replaces it is another expression entirely, something that makes her face goes so red. "D—Dad! We don't even know each other's name!" the girl shouts in outrage. "And how did you know about him anyway?"

Dante shrugs his shoulders, looking sideways before returning to his daughter again. "Came here yesterday, bought those gloves at a good price along with some kunais. And don't ask me why…"

Tenten is surprised. She never thought that there would be day in which she'll hear about those almost useless gloves which was always on display on the front getting sold… at a very good price nonetheless. That guy must either be dumb or weird to buy normal studded gloves from a weapon's shop. Well, not her problem anyway, in fact; it's a plus to the business.

"Anyway, do you have any extra sets for me? My old ones are too dull for me to use…" some of them are also chipped on the edges, making imperfections more critical and cannot be ignored. Since she mostly uses her weapons during fights, Tenten needs to make sure that they are in top condition before she could even use them on the field.

"Fine, I'll ready a fresh set for you, just wait and tend to the store while I use the forge." Tenten rolls her eyes when her father exits the counter to get on the other section of the shop, or to be more precise, the backyard. Their forge is right outside, putting it inside will be something what the Naras would call… 'troublesome'. Imagine all the dust and things they'd have to clean… she can't even think about it.

Now in charge of shop watching, Tenten basically has nothing to do.

"Hello, anyone here?"

Or… not.

Lazy eyes wander over to the direction of the door and they find themselves widening in surprise. "It's him…!" Tenten gasps out in surprise, her body turning away on reflex. Her body is fidgeting, something that she is very conscious of. Why is she like this? This never happened before when she looks at other boys, maybe it's because of her dad's words now that she is conscious of the blonde.

And the spoken blonde lets himself into the shop, walking to the counter with a neutral expression on his face. "Excuse me, where's Dante-san?"

Hearing his question causes her to turn back to him, forcing her to put everything she has to maintain her composure. "A—Ah welcome!" she blurts out with a loud voice. "I mean, welcome." A business smile creeps on her face. "If you're looking for dad, then he's currently busy with the forge. Is there something I could do in his stead?"

"Eh… yeah." He pulls out his utility pouch from its fixed position. "I bought some kunais the other day and I need them polished with the polishing kit I have." He sets the pouch on the counter.

Tenten nods her head in understanding. "Alright, I'll see what I can do." She opens the pouch by unbuttoning the lid, and begins to inspect the kunais. "Hmm…" she brings one of them to an eye level and frowns. "There are too many scratch marks in here for a simple kunai… and most of these have scorch marks here too. What have you been using them for, digging through a volcano?"

"No." the blonde deadpans. "You can thank my jonin sensei for that. He made us ran through the whole day while avoiding fireballs, lightning bolts and even waves!" he shows visible annoyance upon recalling the memory. "Never knew that Kakashi can be such a sadist sometimes…"

"Wait! Kakashi? As in the infamous Copy Ninja Kakashi?!" Tenten is leaning over the counter at this point.

"Uh, yeah, that's him. Tall, grey hair, wears a mask and got one of his eyes covered with his forehead pretector…" using his hands to illustrate the appearance of his jonin sensei, Naruto knows that he is doing a rather poor job at it, but it's a must because it might be necessary.

"That's so cool!" Tenten's overwhelmingly loud voice forces even Naruto to back away a little bit. "Is he good at teaching? Is he handsome?"

Backing away even more from the girl's enthusiastic questioning, Naruto waves both hands as a motion to stop her. "Whoa, whoa! Slow down there buns," Tenten's face turns red at being called buns. "I can't answer the last part since I don't even know what the guy looks like underneath his mask. As for his skills in teaching… I'd say that he's the type of teacher that wants his students to learn things the tiresome and hard way."

"Eeeh… that's all?"

"Yup, that's all. Anyway, you better work on my kunais, or else I might leave."

The girl pouts. "Fine, fine. Just browse around or whatever while I'm working. And make sure that you won't drop anything."

"Yeah, yeah." The blonde says uncaringly.

Tenten does not know why, but seeing him acting like makes her all tingly inside. She begins working on polishing his kunais, she inspected the damages done to them and aside from the scratches and slight chipping on them, there's nothing major that needs taking. Still, she has to wonder just what kind of teacher Hatake Kakashi is. If his method of training involves chasing his students around the training field while throwing in advanced ranking offensive jutsus at them… he could be worse than Gai-sensei, right?

Then, a picture of her sensei comes to mind.

Nope, Gai-sensei is still worse when it comes to training.

After a few minutes, roughly ten or fifteen give or take, Tenten is finally done. She packs everything back inside the pouch, including the polishing kit. Since she has used the customer's own polishing kit, the pay will be lesser. She has completely lost all attention on the blonde when she started working on the kunais, it's some sort of a habit that she has, whether it is healthy or not, she does not care.

"Here, all done." Tenten says. Naruto approaches the counter, money ready in his hand. "That will be 700 ryo."

The blonde makes his transaction and immediately leaves.

* * *

"…Kakashi… I am so done with being a ninja."

Sasuke, who overhears his blonde haired teammate saying that, immediately raises an eyebrow at the statement. The blonde looks irritated, but even though he is irritated, something tells Sasuke that there's a little bit hint of seriousness in his claim. All sweaty, scratch marks all over his face, arms and clothes… yup, Sasuke cannot blame the guy for being grouchy. He himself is tired too, and Sakura too no doubt.

"Maa, maa…" their grey haired jonin sensei doesn't even bother looking at them when he says that. He's busy reading that porn of his in broad daylight and in front of minors. "Don't say that Naruto. This isn't even one percent of what shinobi got to do, you know?"

"If that includes painting fences, picking up dog shit and finding that abomination from hell that you called the Daimyo's wife's cat, then I'd rather take my chances as a hobo." He must be real mad.

"Hmph. Just how long are we supposed to do this kind of job, Kakashi?" the raven haired Uchiha in the group asks. Sakura walks next to him, looking at their sensei with hopeful eyes.

But no matter, Kakashi wouldn't lift his eyes from his damned book. "For a while, until you can show me a proper display of teamwork." Is what the man says.

The morning sun, scorching and unforgiving, increases Naruto's annoyance even more. He got too much shit to deal with today, and this won't help his situation. He represses the urge to scream and curse, since doing that will mean insubordination to a superior rank, and instead chooses to bite his lip. Sasuke sees this and notices it.

"Um… Kakashi-sensei…" Sakura begins timidly, almost too afraid to ask due to the tense atmosphere going on in the group. "I read that a freshly graduated genin team must at least complete forty D-ranked mission before we could get a C-ranked one. I've been counting and… this was the fiftieth time…"

The scarecrow snaps his book shut, getting a reaction from his students. He looks at them with a trademark eye smile before saying. "Well why didn't you tell me? Let's go to the mission room to get ourselves a C-ranked mission!" and with that, the lazy bastard vanishes in a fume of smoke, leaving three stunned genins to wonder.

"…I'll have dibs on punching his face."

"Hmph, too late. I called it first."

"G—Guys!"

Team seven, minus their one eyed jonin sensei, journeys to the mission room which is located in the Hokage tower. Their journey there has been short since they see no point in wasting time. The blonde of the group is excited, knowing that he'll be getting a rank up in his assignments. Truthfully, this whole ninja thing has become such a bore to him. Ever since last week, they've been doing nothing more than practice exercises; that includes teamwork exercises and similar things, but if there's one thing that he appreciates about those sessions, is that he did at least get to spar with either Kakashi or Sasuke.

Their training progress has gone well in his opinion, they've developed the three archetype in the team; Sasuke being the one with the fancy tricks, him being the muscle and Sakura being the brains. Might seem cliché and predictable, but it worked. They also got to know each other better, but he's sure that both Sasuke and Sakura—maybe even Kakashi, no, especially Kakashi—knows that he's keeping secrets from them. As long as they don't ask… then things will be fine. He has an idea of what to do if that time comes. The hard part is how he'll do it.

Anyway, the chunin on duty says that it's okay for them to enter to get their mission. A familiar pineapple shaped hair colored like the bark of an oak tree is the first thing that both three kids notice upon entering the room. "Yo, looks like you guys are ready for another assignment." Iruka smiles when he sees his former students… even if Naruto isn't his student, he is a graduate from the academy on paper.

"Iruka-sensei!" Sakura is glad to see her former academy teacher. It's been quite a while ever since she's seen the young teacher, it's almost refreshing. "We're here to get our first C-rank. Kakashi-sensei says that it's time for us and we're prepared for it."

"Like hell he did…" the blonde murmurs, much to the Uchiha's agreement.

"Hahaha…" Iruka laughs almost in an amusing manner. He sends the jonin who is reading his favorite orange book while leaning on the wall of the room a look. "Looks like your students are more eager than you are, Kakashi."

"Yeah, they are. And it's better that way." The man closes his book, deciding to look serious for now. "I thought that Hokage-sama would brief us himself?"

The brown haired chunin shakes his head. "No, there was a change in Hokage-sama's schedule. He'd been called for a meeting with the council."

Underneath his mask, Kakashi makes an apologetic look. "I feel sorry for him."

Iruka merely sighs. "Don't we all? With all the recent disappearance of some of the important people in the council, I can't blame them." He speaks in a hushed manner, as to avoid letting the genins hearing him. However… that's useless. "Anyway, Hokage-sama may not be the one to brief you with this mission, but fortunately, he did tell me which mission to give you." From behind the table, Iruka pulls out a scroll. It's a standard mission scroll, filled with details about the assignment. "Here it is and the client will be in shortly."

While Kakashi is reviewing the mission's details, his group of genin picks a spot for themselves in the room. Naruto allows himself to take a seat on one of the chairs inside the room, Sakura and Sasuke stands. "So what do you think our mission's gonna be? Guarding a trade caravan? Or maybe saving a pretty little princess?" the blonde asks with his joking tone.

Sasuke scoffs. "I highly doubt that. Chances are, we're going to get someone annoying as our client…"

The blonde ruffian rolls his blue eyes. "I know that, Uchiha. I'm an idiot, not a vegetable."

"Oh yeah, want to bet, Uzumaki?"

"You're on. If this guy turns out to be better than what you had in mind, you owe me lunch. If not, I owe you lunch."

"Acceptable."

Naruto shifts his attention to the female in the group. "Say Sakura, you ever consider yourself on taking medical courses?"

Surprised by her teammate's sudden and abrupt question, the pink haired girl isn't able to answer straight. "I'm sorry?" she heard him right, right?

"I said, have you ever considered on taking medical courses? You know, being a medic-nin and all that?" Sakura is now convinced that she's heard him right.

"No, I never… why are you asking?"

"No reason." The whiskered boy says nonchalantly. "I figured that since you have a good chakra control, you'd put yourself in a place where extreme precision is needed. I heard that performing healing jutsus could be a hard thing to do and that it needs a very good chakra control." Of course he knows that, he's just hinting something at her here.

Her look of confusion slowly morphs into that of surreal realization, it's as if she has everything revealed for her. The revelations has been shown!... or something like that. "Hey… that's not a bad idea! Thank you Naruto, I'll consider it!"

The comfortable atmosphere is short lived when the door swings open, revealing none other than the client… himself. He's old, middle aged, rugged and definitely an 'Ossan' type of man. The sweat drenched wife beater he's wearing and the long loose cargo pants are one thing, but the booze and grouchy expression he has with him are the icing on the cake. The old man looks to survey the unfamiliar faces inside the room, his frown deepens when he sees three kids and a mask wearing Cyclops; especially on the three kids.

"…I asked for ninjas, not high school students pretending that they're ninjas." The man says without a hint of shame or restraint in him.

Naruto is thiiiis close from breaking the man's jaw with his bare fist, but that might be too much for him, so he'll use the mama's gloves. "Wait Naruto, don't get weird ideas." Unfortunately, Kakashi sees it coming, much to his disappointment.

"Tch."

The client raises an eyebrow, before shrugging it off. He looks at Iruka with an unpleased expression, clearly showing his displeasure at what he's seeing. "Must these kids be the ones making sure that I return home safely?" he asks.

"I'm afraid that you must settle with a genin team, Tazuna-san. We provided you with a team that is within your expense range, if you are willing to pay more then maybe we could send a chunin team to go with you." Iruka explains professionally.

Tazuna, now that he's identified, coughs; directly dismissing the topic. "Nah, I'm good."

Sasuke watches the man's action with cautious eyes… something's not right here.

"Ah, but you have a jonin with you, Tazuna-san; me and my team will make sure that you return home safe in one piece." The smooth and laid back spoken voice of Kakashi reassures the man.

"Whatever, let's just go immediately; my family's waiting for me." Tazuna leaves the room, eager on leaving. Kakashi watches with a shake of his head, sometimes, it's just better to keep quiet.

"Well team, you have thirty minutes to prepare yourselves for a… let's say… one week mission trip. But remember, pack light and don't bring anything unnecessary like your stuffed dolls. I'm looking at you, Naruto."

"Oh fuck you too asshole." The blonde bites back.

"Good. Now that's clear, I'll be waiting, bye~" and he vanished.

Iruka sees this scene and cannot help but feel sorry for the three teens. "Well, you better get going guys. And remember; follow your sensei's instructions at all times."

Sasuke could only care less, Sakura's nervous and Naruto is definitely not up for that. The blonde curses underneath his breath, "I'll be chopped celery if I follow that guy's instructions seriously…" he is about to leave when he a hand drops on his shoulder. "What is it now?"

"You owe me lunch." Never had one seen such a sly smirk on an Uchiha's face ever since Uchiha Madara's time.

"Fine, but my treat; my place." Now it's reversed.

Sakura watches the entire scene playing before her eyes with a complicated look. "Boys…" she sighs, rolling her eyes.

* * *

"You guys ready?"

"All set up."

"Hm."

"I'm good Kakashi-sensei."

"Good." The jonin nods. "Now team, diamond formation. Sasuke you're in front, Sakura and Naruto you'll be guarding the client's sides and I'll be at the back making sure that no one sneaks up on us. Any questions?"

Naruto raises his hands. "Yeah, you, the blondie." Kakashi says in a lazy tone.

"Screw you." A glare. "But anyway, where's the client?" true to his words, the client is not present. What's worse is that they've been waiting for about ten minutes now. "If he ends up drunk in an alley somewhere in the red light district I'll show him what it feels like to have a kunai shoved up into his alley."

Sakura reels back in disgust and embarrassment. "Ewww! Don't say filthy things Naruto!"

"What? I didn't say anything filthy." His lips thinned into a sly smirk, one that makes Sakura uncomfortable. "Unless… it isn't me who's the filthy one here."

"S—Shut up! You know what I mean!" stammers the girl who is red on the face.

His smirk grows more intense and he even crosses his arms to look even more like a douche. "Oh yeah? And what exactly is it, hmm?"

"Graaah!"

While watching his cute little students bicker is fun, this is getting nowhere at all. Kakashi has to wonder. Just where is Tazuna? He looks around, looking for anything out of the usual. Sasuke is keeping quiet, observing the surroundings with him. Weird… unless Naruto is right with his intuition of the client ended up getting drunk in a random alley somewhere in Konoha, then there is no explaining for anything out of the ordinary just yet.

Then, as Kakashi is about to announce something to his team, a figure approaches.

"Ah, sorry I was late… had to find the nearest bathroom." It's Tazuna all in his old and wrinkly glory.

"God, what were you doing old man." The displeasure is so obvious in Naruto's voice that even a deaf person could hear it. "Those gonorrhea giving you a hard time?"

"You damn brat…" deciding that this will eventually take a toll on his condition; Tazuna decides to stop himself before he could sink himself deeper than what he already is.

"Oh I'm sorry, it wasn't gonorrhea. It was fucking herpes!" not even an ounce of restrain on that one.

"I don't have herpes!"

"Then it's gonorrhea!"

"IT IS NOT!"

The remaining three people present to hear the two bicker and argue sighs tiredly, this is going to be their whole day. Or week.

Probably week.

* * *

"B—But that's not fair Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura delivers a rightfully accusing finger at her blonde friend who is sitting by the campfire, warming himself up. "Naruto didn't do anything earlier today and I have to do guard duty?!"

From the fire, the blonde snorts. "Hmph. This is your first time having to deal with a real person, isn't it? Hey, at least you get to enjoy the cold night a little bit; see? Silver linings."

"That's exactly it!" Sakura shouts with her arms outstretched in an overly exaggerated manner. "There's nothing to enjoy in this cold and eerie forest! Not even the night itself!"

In return to her whining, Naruto gives her a dull look while stoking the fire with a long stick. "Look here, Sakura, not even the smartest Nara on Konoha could calculate the number of fucks I do not give. No language in the world could express how little I care about you and your task." It's his turn to deliver the finger to Sakura. No, not _that_ finger in case anyone's wondering. But he is thiiis close form doing it. "When your jonin sensei tells you to do something, you better do it. Otherwise, you'd be filed in for insubordination. And last time I checked, Konoha is pretty strict when it comes to one of their people and insubordinations. Do you want to know what happened the last time a guy got filed in for insubordination?"

"W—What?" strangely, she is scared.

"Boot camp. _ANBU,_ boot camp."

That's enough to get Sakura standing and leaving.

Once the girl is out of sight, Kakashi slowly looks at Naruto. For once, his expression of surprise is clearly seen on his masked face. "I didn't know that you knew about the boot camp."

Hugging himself, Naruto snorts. "You weren't supposed to know. Besides, that's something that everyone will know." His look turns solemn, mellow and serious. "But if I have to be honest about one thing… is that I do not like the way she whines about doing something that she knows she'll do. I mean, she signed up for this right? And what's worse, it's just freaking guard duty. What if you asked her to kill a guy? If that time comes, which it will eventually, will she really do it?"

The sound of crickets singing overcomes the little area they are in, combined with the crackling of ambers from the fire then you got yourself one uncomfortable atmosphere. Kakashi silently stares at his whiskered student. To be perfectly honest, Kakashi knows little about the boy. This is their third day outside of Konoha and it's just a few days left until they reach their destination; he's using this chance to try and get a better read at the boy. He'd met with Itachi a couple times and there was one time when the stoic Uchiha really considers on applying the boy on ANBU. Kakashi doesn't want to exaggerate it a little bit but if the ANBU captain himself is trying to get you into the ANBU, then you must be a really skilled and special someone.

Kakashi is lost in his thoughts, so lost that he didn't notice Naruto who stands from his spot. Once he notices, he asks. "Where are you going?"

"I'm… going for a walk."

"…Don't get too far."

"Hm."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the late update guys, I know that it's been forever (maybe) but I was so busy with school and new ideas keep on popping in my head. This is chapter six for tough and look, we finally made a progress! It's not a true Naruto fanfiction if the Wave Arc is not in it, for me only though. Anyway, I'll just say it right here and then, this story will stray away from canon eventually.**

 **I do things my way. If I say that Zabuza dies, then he dies. If he lives, then he lives. Or, if I say that Haku's a girl, then he's a girl.**

 **Keep on favoriting my stories, please remember that reviews are not my top priority and if you have any questions please PM me. With that said,**

 **This is me, signing out.**


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